Walking With the Damned
by Because Love is WAY Over-rated
Summary: My life was going great. Fresh out of college, had a good job, making a good enough amount of money, but it changed one night. The night I saw his hallow eyes followed by a new pair that were warm and comforting. I'll never forget those eyes. VAMPIRES RSX
1. The Creature

**Walking With the Damned**

_It had started out like any other day. I got up in the morning, went to work, went out to lunch with my friends, went back to work, went to the store, came home, and went to make dinner… but that was when the day took an unexpected twist down a damned road. And when I say 'damned' I don't mean that I'm cursing it; I mean that it was a road that the damned walked upon and now I was walking with them too. All because I had declined my friend's offer to go out to dinner as a large group. If I had taken that offer, I wouldn't be here now, scared out of my mind with the feeling of evil creeping up on me every second that I'm awake; not that it's any better when I sleep. When I sleep all I see are his hallow eyes, boring into mine and casting images of his ways into my head. If I had taken that offer, I wouldn't be in his cold arms now, staring into those ever dead eyes. _

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"Oh come on Kory! You have to come tonight! Please!!!" my friend Terra begged me. Work for us had just ended and we were on our way to the car.

"I'm sorry Terra, but I have a lot of work to do. Besides, I wouldn't be any fun," I lied, knowing that I didn't have any work to do at all.

"It's because he'll be there, isn't it?" Terra asked and I stopped. My emerald eyes scanned her blue eyes and I sighed.

"I'm just not feeling up to. I really am sorry Terra, but not tonight. I want you to go have fun with the others and tell them I said hi," I lied. It was the fact that he would be there that made me decline her generous offer.

"Alright I will," she said and with a quick hug, Terra left my side. If I had known that would have been the last time I would ever hug her again, I would have held on and never let go, but I didn't at the time; so instead I continued my walk to my car.

"Great, thanks a lot Terra. I didn't really need to be thinking about him, but now I am thanks to you," I muttered under my breath, followed by many swear words. When I reached my car, I got inside and put my things in the passenger seat. When I looked back up, there was a beautiful, no gorgeous, woman at my window, staring in at me and I screamed.

"I am sorry Ms. Anders, I did not mean to frighten you," she said, her voice like soft music; not a word out of tune and everything flowed perfectly.

"It's alright," I lied, knowing full well that I had almost pissed myself.

"I was just a little lost and was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the front office. This is my first time being here and I'd rather not like to be late for my checkup," she said and I was still shocked by her striking features. Her hair was a dark purple that ended at her shoulders at a slant, with eyes that matched. Her skin was pale, to the point where it appeared she was dead, but it was smooth and untouched. Not a single trace of makeup was found on her face which complemented her natural beauty.

"Are you here to see Doctor Smith?" I asked. It had taken me awhile to remember the name of my boss.

"I believe so. Do you know where I may find him?" she asked.

"Uh the last I saw of him was when I was leaving and he was at the front desk filing some papers," I said, recalling the way his features changed when he was working. When Doctor Smith wasn't working, his face was bright and always cheerful. When he was, his features deepened and when he became serious everyone else did to.

"Thank you," she said before turning to leave.

"No problem," I said before turning my attention back to the wheel. It was while I was replying our conversation in my head that I realized that she had called me by my name, but I'd never met her before. I was a good nurse, but not as advertised as Doctor Smith so it was weird for her to come up to me on her first visit and know my name.

"How did you know my name?" I asked, opening my car door, but the parking garage was empty besides the many cars. The woman from before was nowhere to be found and everything was quiet. My eyes scanned over the many cars, a cold sweat of fear coming from my tightened hands.

"Hello?" I asked and when a bird in the distance crowed, I screamed, slammed the door shut, and locked it. I looked around and found that I was completely alone and a small chuckle escaped my red lips.

"Got the jumps?" I asked myself before starting the car and turning on the radio to calm my nerves. The ride home was normal, I stopped at the store to get some food for tonight; I planned on having a grilled cheese sandwich. After leaving the store I drove home. The night seemed to have taken a gloomy turn because as I pulled up into my driveway, there were clouds that looked like they were about to rain buckets. I quickly ran to check my mail and was pleasantly surprised to find my pay check in there. After grabbing that, I ran for the door and just as I reached it; the rain began.

"Creepy much," I mumbled, looking at the already soaked ground. I then unlocked my door and when I opened it, a gust of cold air wipe past me. It wasn't really a powerful gust of cold air, but instead a light breeze that set of the wind chimes hanging from the porch overhead. I wrapped my jacket tightly around myself and made my way in, closing the door behind me.

"Where's that stupid thermostat?" I said to myself, searching the dark living room for it. When I finally found it, I turned it up to a toasty 78 degrees and then noticed something missing.

"Princess?" I called out, waiting for my beloved cat to come out from the hall and meow. Princess had been a gift from him and after we broke up, I chose not to give up the cat because of the way he had acted.

"Princess?" I called out again and it was then that I smelt the air and recoiled in disgust.

"Crap! I must have left the bacon out!" I thought, making my way to the kitchen. Had I known any better, I would have turned ran for my life; making it so I would've never seen the sight of the creature, gorging themselves in my cat, but at the moment; I was on a mission to save some tasty bacon and that thought never crossed my mind until I actually reached the kitchen.

"Princess?" I called out after hearing the soft sound of the bells on her collar. I smelled the air again and nearly threw up, it smelt of something that had recently died and was now being feasted on… which was exactly what was happening. As soon as I spoke, someone quickly moved in the room and I was staring into bright eyes.

"Princess?" I asked, hoping the catlike eyes staring at me were hers. No such luck on my part so when the creature moved forward, I stepped back and my hand found the light switch. I quickly flipped it on and the second I did, I wished I hadn't.

My eyes first landed on the creature that had the bright eyes. It looked like a man, but I still think of it as a creature because of the way it was standing. The creature wasn't really standing, but more like crouching; ready to pounce. It had black hair that ended at the shoulders, its ends pointed and uneven. The creature was wearing all black, which is why I couldn't see the its forum in the dark, but instead only its eyes. Just like the woman from before, its skin was pale, but perfect all the same. The only thing that made the creature terrifying was the dark crimson blood that coated its chin, dripping from the pointed end of it. The creature's mouth was in a shape that showed it was growling at me and its pointed teeth would have normally been white except for the fact that they were covered in a liquidly glaze with blood. After my eyes had taken in their fill of the creature, they moved to the source of the smell which was Princess. Her head was missing and cuts covered her small body. The color of my normal tan skin drained and I turned pale.

Then I screamed.

My scream started out weak, but then took in its full potential as my eyes scanned over everything again. The creature's eyes darted to the cat and then back to me as I continued to scream. A malicious smirk came over the creature and it made a move towards me. It was when it began to slowly stalk towards me that it straightened into a walk like any normal human, but I knew better than to think it even close to human. As the creature took another step towards me, I screamed again and began to run toward the front door.

Before I could reach the front door, there was the same cold breeze from when I first opened the front door and when I looked again at the door, the creature was standing there. I screamed once again and turned around to head towards the stairs. As I ran up the stairs, I felt the breeze again and looked up to see the creature at the top of the stairs. Another scream formed in my throat, but before I could let it out, I took a step back and fell down the few stairs I have already climbed.

When my head had stopped throbbing, I opened my eyes and looked to the stairs to find the creature still staring down at me from the top. I quickly got up and instead of heading towards the front door, I ran towards the opened window and threw myself out it; taking the screen with me. Once outside, I screamed again, but this time in pain, realizing that I had just jumped out a window and into a rose bush. I looked back into the house to see the creature slowly walking towards it and I slowly got up, trying not to completely skin myself alive with the thorns.

"Shit," I cursed when one of the thorns dug deep into my exposed calf and it began to bleed. When I pulled the thorn out, I looked down at it in my hand and then remember what the creature's jaw had been covered in: blood. I look up at the window once again to see the creature's eyes had changed to a hallow black color and he looked at me hungrily. Forgetting my pain, I pushing myself out of the rose bush and began to run down towards my car. I reached it and groped below my seat for the extra key. Once I found it, I thrust it into the ignition, put the car in reverse, and pulled out of my driveway; knocking over my neighbor's garbage cans as I did. When I was in the road, I put the car into drive and began speeding down the road. As I drove, fear tried to grip at me, but I pushed it away and focused on the road.

"What the hell was that?!" I screamed, when there was a loud thud on the roof of my car. That sound was followed by others just as loud and there was soon the sound of metal being torn away and before I knew it… my car was a convertible. I looked over to the seat next to me and the creature was there, cleaning off its face.

"I can make it quick," the creature spoke, its voice soft like a whisper, but it was a pleasant whisper… much unlike the situation I was in now.

"Go to hell," I hissed, unsure where this sudden courage came from.

"I wish I could," the creature said before its eyes locked in mine. Staring at the creature, I knew that any moment now it would make its move and then I would be dead so I had to think fast. I quickly glanced to the back seat to find some of my books back there. I grabbed one, threw it at the creature, placed another one on the gas peddle, turned the car so it was heading towards the bridge, and after taking a deep breath, I jumped out of the car. My body hit the road hard and I heard something snap, but did not feel anything. My body was in a numb state because of what had just happened. I heard the car crash into the bridge, the creature yelling, and then a loud splash. It was then that I remembered to breath.

I took in a large breath and cried out in pain. Now that I was breathing, my senses were returning. I smelt the metallic blood, tasted the blood in my mouth, felt the throbbing pain in my head, looked down at my hand to see it bent in an odd direction, and my body quivered with everything labored breath I took.

"Very nice trick, if only it had worked," the creature said from behind me. I slowly sat up and turned to face it. The creature looked the same except now the blood was gone and his body was dripping with water.

"Y-y-you're alive?" I stuttered, coughing up my blood after I spoke.

"You can't kill me Kory," the creature spoke and I froze.

"How do you know my name?" I asked, looking up into its eyes.

"I've been watching you for quiet some time and I must say you're a tease. You're sent is alluring and its very amusing to watch you shower in the morning," the creature said and I thought back to my recent morning showers.

"So you're the reason I feel like someone's watching me?" I asked.

"I'm the reason you always feel like that and it was getting annoying; to look, but not touch," the creature said, sending a shiver up my spine.

"You're a sick pervert," I spat, glaring at him.

"Aren't we all?" the creature asked and before I knew it, I was in its arms. Its arms were cold, but not because of the water. The creature's skin was like ice, it was cold like the _dead_.

"You really are a beautiful creature Kory," the creature said, breathing in the sent of my skin on my neck. It groaned and held me tighter as the creature's trailing nose reached my pulse point.

"Maybe I'll make you like me, so I can have you forever," it said, breathing in my scent once again.

"I'd rather die," I spat.

"Watch you're words because that can easily be arranged," the creature said, flashing me its teeth. I took a deep breath and stared up at it, scared out of my mind as the creature trailed its fingers along the veins in my neck; even the ones that couldn't be seen by the naked eye.

"You're threats don't mean a thing to me. If you really wanted to kill me or make me like you, you would have done it by now," I said.

"I wanted to wait for him to show up so that he could see you're face drain of color as I take away you're every last drop of blood," the creature said and I shivered once again.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked and the creature smirked before turning its attention away from me for once.

"Xavier was talking about me," another voice spoke. This voice was soft, just like the woman's and the creature's, known as Xavier, was. I searched for the source of the voice, which sounded male; to find the most gorgeous creature I'd ever seen. When I say 'creature' I don't mean that he was like the creature (Xavier) holding me now. I would say 'living thing', but something told me he wasn't living.

His features were like Xavier's except his chin wasn't as pointed and his black hair was much shorter. Now that I thought about it, both of them were well built, but something about the new one was different. I didn't feel like I was in danger, or not as much danger, with him around. It was nice to feel like my head wasn't about to get bitten off, even if it was just a slight change in the way I feel.

"Richard, so nice you could join us. I was just telling Kory about how I would kill her," Xavier spoke, drawing my attention back to him.

"My sister was right, Kory was in danger. I went to her house and found a dead cat. Now Xavier, were you really that desperate that you ate a cat?" Richard mocked.

"Just killing time," Xavier said, his grip on my tightening. Richard seemed to sense that and he sat down on the ground.

"You can calm down Xavier. I'm not going to do anything rash as long as you don't," he said and Xavier's grip loosened some.

"What's going on? I'm not just some toy you two can play tug-a-war with," I said and Xavier laughed.

"That's what you think," he said and I shivered for like the fourth time that night.

"She's right Xavier, we have to respect her wishes. Is there anything you'd like Kory?" Richard asked and I was debating whether or not he was being sarcastic.

"I'd be nice if I knew what was going on," I said.

"If you really want to know, you're being held captive by a creature of the night. A damned soul cursed to walk the world for the rest of their lives, never resting or sleeping. You're in the arms of a creature that will always thirst for blood and that thirst will never be satisfied. Do you know what I speak of Kory?" Richard asked, standing once again.

"A vampire."

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First chapter and damn! I think that was a good first chapter! It was six pages long on Word which means it gives you plenty to read for a first chapter. It was also really descriptive and with not nearly as much swearing as in my other stories.

Please review!

Kattie


	2. Falling

"I told you she was bright," Xavier said, looking down at me.

"I never said she wasn't," Richard said.

"You aren't real," I said, fear gripping at my words and making them weak.

"Trust me, we're very real," Xavier said and I looked up at him. As I looked up at him, he flashed me his teeth and I screamed while trying to get out of his arms. Xavier laughed as I tried again to get out of his hold, but only hurt myself.

"Let me go!" I yelled, fear shaking my body. I had enjoyed the thought of him just simply killing me with a gun or knife much more than the thought of him _biting_ me. Now his words made sense to me and then I remembered Princess.

"No. No. No. This isn't happening… no!" I yelled, tears now streaming down my already pale cheeks.

"I think you've frightened her Richard," Xavier joked, looking down at me.

"Just let her go Xavier. I won't let her go anywhere, but you need to let her go before she starts hyperventilating," Richard said and as soon as I was free from Xavier I quickly backed away from him, my body still shaking with fear.

"You aren't real… this isn't happening," I kept repeating, my voice shaky.

"What did you do to her to get her that hurt Xavier?" Richard asked, looking over my cut body.

"It's not **my** fault she jumped out of a window and a car in motion," Xavier said.

"Did you ever think it might be better if you helped her maybe so that she doesn't die in pain?" Richard asked.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" I yelled and they both turned to stare at me.

"Does you're hand hurt?" Richard asked, turning his attention to me. To answer I nodded my head. Something told me to trust him. Richard stood and slowly made his way over to me, I think so he wouldn't frighten me.

"I jumped out of the car," I mumbled, turning my head towards the part of the broken bridge. Richard laughed softly and turned to Xavier.

"Did you think she wouldn't be that much of a challenge?" he asked and Xavier glared at him.

"Well, it's broken and I can't fix it now, but I will be able to fix it when we get to my sister," Richard said and Xavier's eye darted over to us.

"No!" he yelled and before I knew it, I was falling; not alone though. Richard was holding me in his arms as we fell from the high bridge. I wanted to open my mouth and scream, but the fear of all my insides coming with the scream kept my mouth closed.

"It's going to be alright," Richard whispered into my ear and surprisingly, even though I knew he was a vampire like Xavier, I trusted him and closed my eyes.

"Take a deep breath," he told me and I did just before the impact of the water. Since it was the middle of winter, the water was icy cold and I felt as if I was being stabbed all over. Amazingly though, the only reason I knew we hit the water was because I became soaked. Otherwise, I didn't feel the huge impact that would have killed me. Soon my lungs began to ache for air and I tugged on Richard's arm. When we surfaced, I took a deep breath which was a huge mistake because my whole body jolted with pain and I yelped.

"Don't let go of me," Richard said and I nodded before grabbing onto him. The next thing I knew, the water was rushing past us and the wind was whipping though my long red hair. My body still ached from jumping out of the car and I felt frozen to Richard since my body was drenched with the water.

"Give her back to me Richard!" a voice from behind yelled and I knew it at once as Xavier's.

"Hold on tighter," Richard said and I did. I buried my head into the back of his neck, even though the water was still rushing around me and I couldn't breathe as well.

"Damn you Richard!" Xavier yelled, his voice further back now.

"I already am damned!" Richard joked, a chuckle escaping his perfect lips. Xavier laughed along and it made me feel like I was no longer in danger and that they were just playing a game.

"Aren't we all?" he asked, still laughing.

"Maybe you and I, but she isn't yet and I plan to keep it that way," Richard said and all the laughing stopped. It seemed that after he said that, the game was over and my life was in danger again. Silence consumed the air and it became thick with tension. Within a minute, maybe less, we were on the shore. If any normal person had just swam that far, they would be breathing heavily and doubled over, but Richard wasn't any normal person. He stood perfectly straight and if anything, it seemed he barely breathing.

"Get on my back," Richard said and I did as told. Now, instead of swimming at incredible speeds, Richard was running at incredible speeds and within seconds, my body and hair were dry again. I clung to Richard as he ran and in what seemed like a mere 5 minutes, we were at the edge of the forest that surrounded the south side of Jump City.

"Are you feeling alright?" Richard asked, looking back at me. I nodded weakly, my mind in different places like wondering where Xavier was.

"You can't hide her Richard. I'd be able to smell her from a mile away," Xavier said, his voice surrounding us, but I was unable to see him.

"Don't worry Kory, he won't lay a finger on you," Richard reassured me.

"Who's to say I won't just jump out of nowhere and bite her?" Xavier said and I felt the breeze once again.

"Ric-," was all I managed before I was ripped away from him and flung to the ground. When my back hit the ground, the wind was knocked out of me and I started gasping for air. Xavier's foul laughter filled my ears as air began to return to my lungs and my head leveled out again.

"Leave her alone Xavier!" Richard yelled, his voice sounding distant, but he was really just a few feet away.

"Now why would I do a thing like that?" Xavier asked and suddenly his hands were holding my chin, turning my head towards Richard.

"Isn't she beautiful Richard? Think of how beautiful she could be if she was one of us. We'd have her for an eternity. Now what's not to like about that deal?" Xavier asked and Richard glanced at my pained face before returning his attention to Xavier.

"_Let her go_," he hissed and Xavier snickered.

"I think he's taken a liking to you Cutie," he said, smirking.

"Why me?" I asked and they both turned to look at me.

"Why did you two choose me? There are a billion girls out there, why pick me to be the lucky girl to be fought over by two blood thirsty vampires?" I asked.

"Do you honestly think I'm coming after you because I'm 'blood thirsty'?" Richard asked.

"Not as much as him," I said, pointing with my good hand to Xavier who was still holding me.

"Well Richard, I'd love to stay here and chat and all, but I was planning on having Kory for dinner. So if you don't mind, we'll be leaving now," Xavier said quickly and then he scoped me up in his arms and jumped towards the trees. Before Xavier's foot could reach the sturdy branch he was jumping for, he was pulled down by Richard and I was thrown to the ground once again. This time, instead of waiting for one of them to come by and take me, a shakily stood up and began to run into the street and away from the two fighting vampires in the forest.

"Help!" I yelled, running along the street. I didn't know where I was, who I could trust, but I did know that there was a hospital about half a mile away… in which direction was the question.

"Help!" I yelled again, but nobody ever showed up. I continued to run down the street and every once in a while, a car would drive by, but none stopped. I started to cry, one: because I was scared and two: because I was frustrated nobody would bother to help me.

"Run Kory!" Richard yelled from far away and I began to run faster. I heard something move from behind me and I turned around in time to see Xavier's figure flash by underneath one of the street laps. I screamed in fear and turned around to run faster, but when I did, all I heard was a horn honking. After that there was a blinding light, I felt a lot of pressure of my chest, and then I blacked out.

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I know this chapter wasn't as long as the first one, but if I keep making really long chapters the story will be over faster and I don't want that. Please review!

Kattie


	3. A New Name

"Ms. Anders?" a kind woman voice asked me. The voice had a dream like quality and with the bright light that shown through, even with my eyes clothes, I had a feeling I was dead.

"At least I'm away from those two," I mumbled to myself. I went to rub my eyes, to get rid of the sleepiness that lingered within them, but instead of feeling my hand, I felt a scratchy material… like a cast.

"Ms. Anders, who are you talking about?" the kind voice asked again, puzzlement in her voice. This time I opened my eyes and saw the bright light. After blinking a couple times, my eyes adjusted and I was able to make out the silhouette of someone.

"Where am I?" I asked, my eyes adjusting more to reveal the woman with the kind voice.

"The hospital," she told me and I closed my eyes, my body beginning to ache.

"You need your sleep," she then said and I didn't need to be told twice. I relaxed my sore body and closed my heavy eye lids before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

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_"Kory," a dream like voice called to me, though this time it didn't belong to the kind woman. _

_"Kory, it's time to wake up," the voice called and I recognized it at once._

"Richard!" I yelled, sitting up in my bed. A nurse was quickly at my side, lying me back down in my bed.

"It's alright Ms. Anders, he is here," she said and my eyes scanned the room.

"Where?" I asked.

"He left to get you some clothes, but should be back soon. Now please Ms. Anders, you need to rest. You were hit by a car head on just a few days ago, you're body is still recovering," the nurse said, but I did not close my eyes to sleep again. I needed to see Richard and find out what happened.

"Alright," I said, my voice suddenly weak and dry.

"I'll get you some water," the nurse said before leaving. Once she was gone Richard came in through the window and sat down in a chair next to me.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice smooth and calm.

"Like I was attacked by a vampire and hit by a car," I said and Richard chuckled.

"It's alright, Xavier won't be bothering you," he said.

"Did you kill him?" I asked.

"No, but he can't come here because there's a risk of him exposing himself for what he is. Besides I'll be here so he wouldn't dare show up now that he knows I'm pissed beyond hell," Richard said.

"You two never answered my question: why me? I don't mean it in a complaining way, I just want to know what's so special about me. People have told me I'm beautiful and talented and all that stuff, but I never really agreed with them. I'm just like any other person, nothing special," I said.

"See Kory, that is where you're so very wrong," Richard said, smiling faintly at me.

"Everything about you is different and that's what draws us to you," he then added.

"So there're more vampires than just you, Xavier, and your sister?" Kory asked.

"Yes, there are many of us. 'Clans' if you want to call them that and you've met my sister Raven," Richard said.

"You mean the woman that came up to me when I was leaving work?" I asked.

"Yes, that was my sister. She has healing qualities that are 10 times better than any hospital," he explained.

"Oh, so what else about me is so different?" I asked.

"You have a certain smell to you, not a bad one, but a captivating one that also draws us to you," Richard said, taking in a deep breath through his nose after he spoke.

"I knew I should have switched shampoos," I muttered and he laughed at me.

"It's a natural scent, not a man made one," Richard said.

"Does that mean Xavier will always be able to find me?" I asked.

"No, we could always alter your scent, but that'd be no fun," he said.

"Do you plan on taking me with you?" I asked.

"I have to. It's not safe for you to be on your own and you diffidently can't return to your house because Xavier will be waiting for you," Richard said.

"So you expect me to just throw away all my friends, family, and old life so I can run off with vampires?" I asked bitterly.

"Raven warned me about you not taking this well. She said that I should have just taken you and left before we even ran into this question, but I disagreed. I said that you deserve to know what's going on instead of being left in the dark," Richard said as I fought back tears knowing I would never be able to see my friends and family again.

"Do you lust for blood? My blood?" I asked, catching Richard off guard.

"Here's your water Ms. Anders," the nurse said, returning with my water. I looked at the clock and noticed that it had taken her nearly 10 minutes to get water.

"Thank you," I said, taking the glass and drinking some.

"Oh, Mr. Grayson, I didn't know you were here. Is there anything I can get you?" the nurse asked, noticing Richard in the chair next to me.

"No thank you," he said with a small smile which the nurse returned before leaving my room once again.

"You never answered my question," I said as Richard stood.

"I brought you some clothes. Hurry and get dressed so we can leave. Visiting hours is almost over," he said, ignoring me.

"I'm not going anywhere if you don't answer my question," I said sternly, looking at the clothes he had tossed on my bed.

"Do you wish me to help you get dressed?" Richard asked, avoiding my question again.

"Just answer the question and I'll get dressed!" I yelled.

"Yes! I lust for you blood, but I know how to restrain myself as long as you don't start bleeding large amounts! Now will you get dressed?!" he yelled, fists clenched. I sat up in my bed and grabbed the clothes before slowly standing.

"Can I have some privacy?" I asked, refusing to look at him now.

"I'll be back in five minutes," Richard said, his voice calm again, before leaving through the window he first came from. I looked at the clothes again as I undressed and noticed that most of them were black.

_"Probably to blend in with the dark," _I thought to myself as I untied the strings to the hospital gown. When that dropped to the ground, I was pleased to find I had some underwear underneath, but no bra.

_"Great. The middle of winter, at night, with no bra, and I'm with a vampire that can probably sense everything," _I thought grimly as I pulled on the black long sleeved shirt. On top of that, there was another black jacket I could put on. After my top half was done, I carefully pulled on the black sweats, making sure they didn't catch on the bandages on my leg from where the thorn had stabbed me. When I had them pulled up, I pulled my hair up in a high pony tail using the hair tie that had been left around my wrist.

"No shoes?" I asked, feeling the slight breeze on my neck telling me he was back.

"You won't need them," Richard said before taking my hand in his and turning me around. When I turned around fully, my emerald eyes locked to his which I now realized were a startling blue color though I remember them being a hallow black the previous night.

"Will Xavier follow us?" I asked and Richard turned towards the window.

"Most likely, but I wouldn't be any fun if he didn't," he smirked before pulling me onto his back in one swift motion.

"Hold on, I'll have to go really fast in order for him not to get too close," Richard whispered and I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Tighter or you'll fall off," he said and I tightened my hold a little.

"To the point where you're choking me, but you won't be able to. It's okay to hold on tight Kory, you can't hurt me even if you wanted to," Richard said and I tightened my grip to its full extend. I was relived to find that Richard's breathing stayed and didn't become heavier.

"How long will it be until we get to where we're headed?" I asked as Richard slowly walked over to the window. He scanned the outside world with his eyes that were now the hallow black color.

"A couple hours with no stops," he said before jumping out the window. As we fell from the high window, I tightened my grip again and Richard chuckled.

"Afraid of heights?" he asked.

"No, I was just never a big fan of Drop Zone," I said and he laughed at me again.

"You can't run from me Richard! I could smell her from a mile away!" Xavier yelled. I looked behind us as we fell to see him falling, not far behind. I screamed when I turned forward and saw the ground getting closer. I squeezed my eyes close and only heard the light tap of Richard's shoe before we were running instead of falling. Xavier followed us, just a light tap as well and then he was right next to me.

"Hey Cutie, miss me?" he asked, smirking. Xavier went to grab for me, which caused me to scream, but Richard jumped to the side and he missed me by inches.

"You're only making it harder for yourself Red, just leave her alone!" Richard yelled as he continued to run.

"I want her Grayson and you know how I can get when I want something. Remember Barbara?" Xavier asked, the name he spoke catching my interest.

"Shut up!" Richard snapped.

"You'll be happy to hear that she isn't dead, but disappointed to hear she joined me," Xavier taunted, obviously trying to get to Richard and it was working.

"You can have her! Leave Kory alone!" Richard yelled and a small smile appeared on my lips.

"I don't think she'd be really pleased to hear that Richard because she talks all about you. Lusting for you blood, wishing you were hers, at first and then she still wanted your blood, but she also wanted you dead," Xavier said and I frowned.

"It seems that no matter what you do Red, she'll always love me," Richard said with a smirk, throwing it back at Xavier.

"She doesn't love you! She wants you dead!" Xavier yelled in protest.

"Lusting for someone's blood is usually a sign of affection or love," Richard said.

"Do you mean to say you love Kory, because I heard you say you lust for her blood?" Xavier asked and my eyes darted away from him and to the side of Richard's face, hoping to see some forum of emotion.

"All I care about is keeping her out of your hands," he said and all my hopes died.

"Then why not send some else to protect her?" Xavier asked.

"You and I both know I'm the strongest in my clan, probably the strongest in yours too," Richard said and Xavier glared.

"We'll see about that," he said before lunging at us and I screamed.

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That was another long chapter. (Long compared to what I usually write at least) I hope everyone enjoyed and if you're wondering, Babs will come into the story later to screw things up. Please review!

Kattie


	4. The Clans

Xavier grabbed onto me and pulled me harshly off Richard's back. I screamed again as he began running in another direction, but when I looked back, Richard was holding out his hand. I reached back to grab his, but Xavier swerved to the side and I couldn't. I looked back at Richard again just in time to see a car, the one Xavier swerved out of the way of, hit him.

"Richard!" I screamed, watching as the car swerved to the side and crashed into another.

"Don't worry Cutie, he's not dead yet," Xavier said and when I looked back, Richard was there again. My heart was beating quickly and my breath was short as well, but they calmed down once Richard neared us and held out his hand again. I went to reach for him, but found that Xavier's death grip was holding me back. His arm was wrapped tightly around my waist and holding me in place.

"Jump," Richard said calmly and I stared at him wide eyed.

"I can't he's holding me too tightly," I said, pointing to his arm around my waist. Richard eyed Xavier's arm and the way he was holding me before picking up his speed… if that was possible. Richard jumped and in one swift motion made a long gash with his short, but pointed nails, into Xavier's back. Xavier yelled out in pain and his grip on me loosened just enough for me to squirm out.

"Richard!" I screamed as I jumped out of Xavier's grasp, using his back to push off of which caused him to hiss in pain. As I jumped through the air, finally on my own, it felt like I was flying… too bad it ended so soon. Richard caught me in his arms before running away in the opposite direction.

"I thought you said I wouldn't be any fun if he didn't follow us? Why'd you hurt him then?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Because I know where he was heading and if I didn't get you back in time, his whole clan would be on my ass. I'm good, but not that good," Richard said.

"What happens when we get too close to your place? Does your clan come out on him?" I asked and he laughed lightly.

"Yeah and I have some pretty big people in mine," Richard said.

"How many?" I asked, feeling tired again.

"Well, there's my sister Raven, Beast Boy, Victor, Karen, we call her Bee, two small boys, but they only speak Spanish so we don't understand them though we call them Mas and Menos, Allen, Jericho, Wally, Argent, and our leader: Bruce," Richard said.

"And you," I mumbled, sleep gripping me.

"Yeah and me, but I think they'll like you," he told me.

"That's good, because I don't like not being liked… if that makes sense," I said.

"I understand you perfectly," Richard said and my smile grew.

"Who are the people in Xavier's clan?" I asked.

"Their leader is Slade and Gerico was close to him, we don't know full details, but when Gerico joined us, it kinda started this war we're in," he said.

"So is it only Slade and Xavier?" I asked.

"No, there's also Johnny, Malchior, Gizmo, this guy they call Brother Blood, Kitten, Fang, Jinx, this professor named Chang, and Wintergreen, Slade's personal assistant," Richard said.

"Does Xavier plan on making me a part of his clan?" I asked, my voice slurred with sleep.

"That's what he plans, but it's not going to happen, I promise," Richard whispered and with his voice still in my head, I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

-------------------------------

"And she's supposed to help us somehow?" a distant voice asked.

"That's just what I saw in Slade's head. He went to some freaky witch doctor and found out, I just tapped into his head and found out too," another voice said, but this one was the one of the woman at my car; Raven.

"I think she's waking up," a voice whispered and slowly I opened my eyes. To my pleasure, when I opened my eyes I wasn't blinded, but instead there was a dim light coming from a corner. I was on a soft bed, wrapped in blankets with pillows propping up my head. I smiled happily and stretched, feeling my muscles loosening.

"She smells delicious," a male voice and that's when I looked around and screamed. Surrounding me there were many beautifully pale people, but I knew they were vampires.

"Does she do that often?" someone next to me asked. His skin was pale like the others, but what really stood out was his bright red hair and light blue eyes. He sounded like the one that said I smelt delicious.

"Calm down Kory, you're safe now. These people won't hurt you," Richard's familiar voice said and he was sitting at the foot of my bed in the blink of an eye. My eyes flicked over to the guy who said I had smelt delicious and Richard chuckled.

"That's Wally and don't worry, he'll leave you alone," he said, the threat noticeable.

"Hi," I said, weakly smiling.

"You already met Raven, my sister," Richard said, gesturing to the woman to my right.

"Yeah, I remember her," I said.

"This is Victor," he then said, pointing to the largest of the group because he was so well built. I could tell he was originally African American, but there was still a pale tint to him.

"Nice to meet you little lady," he said, a brotherly smile on his face.

"This is Beast Boy, though most of us call him Gar," Richard said, pointing to the boy with the goofy smile. I couldn't help but smile in return after seeing his smile and then I noticed his odd green hair.

"I lost a bet, but then I got used to it," he said, still smiling and I laughed a little.

"See Rae! Somebody thinks I'm funny!" he said, sticking his tongue out at Raven which caused me to laugh again.

"I guess somebody has to and don't call me Rae," she said, her voice all in one tone, much unlike the first day I met her.

"Oh will you two stop fighting and just get together already!" a female voice said, causing both Raven and Beast Boy to blush.

"I'm going to make some tea," Raven said before leaving.

"Video games Vic?" Beast Boy asked, and Victor smirked.

"You're on grass stain," he said before the two left the room.

"I play winner!" Wally yelled, running after them and the others rolled their eyes.

"I'm guessing that happens often?" I asked and the lady that spoke earlier nodded.

"All the time and it gets really annoying. I'm Karen by the way," she said, smiling at me. She was also like Victor, African American with a pale tint and warm brown eyes.

"I'm so glad to have another girl. Raven and Argent never want to do anything fun, but now that I have you we can do girl stuff!" Karen said happily.

"I look forward to that. I was an only child and my mom wasn't around much," I said and she smiled again.

"Richard you have to make her room next to mine," Karen said.

"Kory's room will be next to mine," Richard said calmly but firmly.

"Fine Mr. Killjoy," Karen said, her smile gone.

"I'll see you around Kory," she said before leaving the room.

"Anyway, this is Argent," Richard said. She reminded me of Raven, a dark, but kind look to her and I simply smiled.

"Can I leave now?" Argent asked. Richard nodded before she left leaving only me, him, two small boys, and two other guys.

"These two are Mas and Menos, don't try to understand them," Richard said, pointing to the small boys. They both had orange hair, hazel eyes, and wide smiled.

**"Is she not beautiful brother?" **one of them spoke in a language I didn't understand.

**"Beyond beauty!"** the other said, again I could not understand them. They both jumped up on the bed and kissed each of my hands before running out of the room.

"I believe they like you," the blonde male of the group said.

"This is Jericho," Richard said. I looked at the blonde male and noticed his odd eyes. They were black in the middle with green surrounding them, but a moment ago they were green in the very middle with a large black circle surrounding them.

"Please don't blame me for this constant fighting between our clan and Slade's, it is not my fault," he said and with a nod, left.

"Thanks for saving me for last Richard," the remaining male said, arms crossed.

"Well I thought it'd save someone who was calm for last because I'm sure all of this is a little weird for Kory," Richard said.

"Anyway, I'm Allen," he said before leaving, his long back hair swaying with the steps he took.

"They seem nice," I mumbled and Richard laughed.

"That's why I wanted you to meet them before you met Bruce," he said before standing.

"Where are you going?" I asked, sitting up more in my bed.

"Actually, it's where **we're **going and **we're **going to see Bruce," Richard said before taking my hand and pulling me out of the bed, gently standing me on my feet.

"Is he scary?" I asked as we began to walk away from the soft bed that I wanted to crawl into again.

"If you consider extremely serious and emotionless scary, then yes," Richard said and I shot him a glare.

"Not helping. It's scary enough being the only human with a bunch of vampires that say I smell delicious. I don't need to worry about impressing your leader who's serious and emotionless on top of that," I said.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Richard said before we came to two large dark red wooden doors.

"Good luck," he said before quickly, but gently, pushing me inside and closing the doors behind me.

_"Thanks a lot Richard," _I thought to myself before looking around.

"Please step forward Ms. Anders," a deep voice said and I gulped.

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If anyone was wondering, the bold is Mas and Menos talking, but since I don't know Spanish, I'm just translating what they say and put in bold, but nobody but them and the readers know what they're saying.

Anyway, please review and I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!

Kattie


	5. Rooms

"Take a seat," the deep male voice said and once he did, there was a chair in front of me.

"Umm… is the freaky dark with lone chair gonna end or is this normal whenever somebody comes in here?" I asked and he chuckled.

"Sorry, just thought I'd add something to the whole being a vampire," he said before the lights returned and I blinked a couple times.

"Well, the only reason I would believe any of you were vampires is because Richard told me, otherwise I'd think you were all just freakishly beautiful pale people," I admitted and he laughed again.

"That's good to hear," he said before another door opened and a man stepped out.

"You know, when I think about a vampire's clan leader, I don't picture you. I picture someone in a lot of black, really pale, dark rings under their eyes, fangs always out, and old. You don't fit any of those things except for the wearing clothes that are black," I said, a small smile on my unblemished face.

"That's good to hear as well and as you probably already know, I'm Bruce," he said, a welcoming smile on his lips.

"As you already know, I'm Kory Anders," I said, smiling.

"I hope your journey here wasn't too hard," Bruce said, sitting down in another chair. Now that the lights were on, I looked around and noticed that there was a dark red wooden desk with a laptop on it. There was also a coffee maker in one of the corners on a small table in front of a window that overlooked a meadow that had a small stream running through it.

"I slept the whole way," I said, returning my attention to him.

"I'm glad, that means you're well rested for the tour," Bruce said before standing.

"A tour?" I questioned, standing as well.

"Would you rather not know where you're going and accidentally walk in on one of us feeding?" he asked.

"A tour sounds great," I quickly said.

"You won't walk in on that because we do our feeding amongst the streets, but still, better to be safe than sorry," Bruce said and he walked towards the door I first came from.

"That and I'd love to know where I was going instead of getting lost all the time," I said, a small smile on my face.

"We'll begin with where everyone's rooms are," Bruce said before holding open the door for me as we stepped out of his 'office'.

"All I know is that Karen wanted me to have my room next to her, but Richard said I was next to his room," I said, looking at the many painting that lined the walls.

"Now is it?" Bruce asked, raising his eyebrow with amusement.

"That's just what he said. It's probably for some absurd safety rule that doesn't even need to be in place because right now I'm probably safer than I've ever been in my life," I said.

"You are safe and have absolutely nothing to worry about, but I'll still try to arrange it. And if Karen really wants you to be near her room then she can move rooms and be across from you," Bruce said.

"I'll tell her that when I see here next," I said.

"Most of the rooms are located near the back so we can get out easily incase of an emergency," Bruce explained.

"Will my room be there too?" I asked.

"Yes, you're room will actually be the closest one to the exit, but the most surrounded by others here," Bruce said.

"Do the rooms have names on the doors, because that would make it a lot easier," I said.

"No because that would make it a lot easier for intruders. Instead, each door has a symbol on it. If you remember the symbols then it will be very easy for you to get around," Bruce said, his pace slowing down.

"Raven's symbol is a pair of eyes, Karen's: a bee, Garfield's: a wolf," after he spoke, I laughed.

"What's so funny?" Bruce asked.

"Nothing," I lied, remembering how the others told me to call Beast Boy Gar, but his real name was Garfield.

"Anyway, Victor's symbol is two fists, Allen's: waves in the water, Mas and Menos: a plus and minus sign, Argent: a rose, Jericho: a flower. He's a bit of a hippy," Bruce explained before I could ask.

"Wally's: two feet, and Richard's is three drops of liquid. One, blood, two, sweat, and three, tears," Bruce explained.

"What's about you?" I asked while thinking about Richard's symbol.

"I don't have a symbol," he said blankly before stopping in front of a door with a star on it.

"This is your room," Bruce said before opening the door and holding it for me as I walked in. My room was large, huge in fact, but I guessed the others were like that too. One whole wall was a window, looking out at a meadow and river, much like Bruce's but it was a different part. This part of the meadow had more flowers and a clear view of the sky while Bruce's view of the sky had been blocked by some trees. Layers of white silk curtains were on either side of the window so I could pull them across for privacy. There was a large bed in the middle of the room with many white silk sheets and a fluffy confuter. At the head of the bed were at least 5 fluffed pillows, calling my name even though I had just woke. There were three doors leading out of my room. Two were opened and I got a quick glimpse of an extravagant bathroom that was lined with white marble. The other door led to another room, but it was smaller with just a black leather couch in it from what I could see. Even though the room was beautiful and the best thing I'd ever seen in my life time of rooms, the third closed door caught my curiosity and was holding it there to torture me.

"Do you like your room," Bruce asked, breaking me from my trance.

"It's gorgeous! Thank you so much!" I said happily and fought the urge to hug him.

"I'm glad you like it. When you're ready, Karen wants to take you to the mall so you can get some clothes since you won't be able to go and retrieve them and it could be a trap if I send one of my own," Bruce explained and I nodded before he left me room.

_"I have to piss," _I thought, suddenly feeling my bladder give a lurch that made me cross my legs. I made my way to my bathroom and closed the door behind me before reliving myself. After washing my hands and fixing my hair with one of the brushes I found in a draw, I left my bathroom to find Richard staring out my large wall window.

"You know it isn't fair," I said, sitting down on my bed that cushioned my bottom.

"What isn't fair?" he asked, still looking out the window.

"You're able to just sneak into my room and I won't even notice. What if I'm in the middle of changing when you come in?" I asked and Richard turned to face me.

"I wouldn't do that," he said and from the way he said it, I knew he was telling the truth.

"I know, but still, I like knowing when someone is in my room so I don't come out of the shower in only a towel," I said and Richard laughed.

"The only ones you have to worry about are Mas and Menos because it seems they've taken a liking to you," he said and I smiled.

"It's better than being un-liked," I said.

"I'll leave you alone now," Richard said before turning and moving across the room to the third door that was closed. He opened the door just enough for himself to slip in and from what I could see, there was a large bed covered with red and black sheets.

_"Finally I know what that freaking door is," _I thought before smiling happily. If I ever needed Richard, I knew he would be in the room next to me and that made me happy. With the smile still on my face, I went to the other room that I had not yet explored. Inside, there was a small black leather couch, but also a door leading to outside.

"The sun," I whispered to myself before opening the door and stepping outside into the fresh air. Indeed, the sun was warm on my skin; too warm so I stripped out of the black jacket I was wearing from the previous night. At that moment, I didn't care if something showed through my shirt, I rolled up my sleeves and the cool breeze made my skin tingle. Since it was still the middle of winter, I was surprised to find that it wasn't freezing here like the rest of Jump City, but at the same time I had no idea where I was.

"Ready to go shopping?" Karen asked from behind me, making me jump. I quickly picked up my jacket off the floor and turned to face her.

"Yeah," I said and she laughed.

"Let's get you some better clothes first so guys don't run into walls when they walk past you," Karen said before leading the way inside. I followed behind her, a pink blush on my face from when she had found me outside.

"What size are you?" Karen asked as we entered her room that had the pattern of black and yellow.

"Umm… probably your size," I said, quickly looking over her slender figure and then looking at my own figure in a mirror we passed.

"Are you curvy?" Karen asked as we reached her closet that was more like a small bedroom.

"Sort of," I said. I never really thought of myself as 'curvy' until now and I wasn't sure what to say. Karen turned around and took in my figure before shrugging.

"Try this on," she said, handing me a pair of tight dark blue jeans. Karen then searched through her closet some more before pulling out a long sleeved white shirt.

"What's your bra size?" she asked.

"B," I said and she threw a plain white one at me.

"It's a little bit bigger, but we could always stuff it," Karen said with a giggle and I smiled before leaving the closet and heading towards her bathroom that was covered in black marble. I changed out of my clothes, happy to find that the scratch on my leg was healed to perfection and that the cast was now off my arm.

_"I guess Raven really is a good healer," _I thought before slipping out of the remainder of my clothes, only finding a few small scratches. I squeezed into the jeans and pulled on the long sleeved shirt before leaving the bathroom. Once outside, Karen took my previous clothes and put them in a dirty hamper before handing me a pair of all white flats.

"So I guess I won't be in the room right next to you," Karen sighed and I put on my shoes.

"No, Richard is there instead. Bruce said that you could move to the room across from me though," I said, standing up and fixing my top to get rid of the wrinkles.

"Nah, I'm attached to this room," Karen said.

"There's a door that connects my room to his," I said.

"Really?!" she asked, suddenly very interested.

"Yeah, I came out of the bathroom and he was in there," I said.

"Do you think you could sneak into his room and look around?" Karen asked.

"Why would I do that?" I asked as we stood and started to walk towards the door that led out of her room.

"Nobody really knows much about Richard, not even his sister Raven… who isn't really his sister. They were just friends and bitten at the same time," Karen said.

"But if you don't want to you don't have to," she added before talking about something else, but thoughts of Richard occupied my mind.

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Yes! Another long chapter! Please review because I was bummed about only getting 4 reviews for the last chapter….

Kattie


	6. Next Time

Mine and Karen's trip to the mall was surprisingly normal. Many people stared at Karen's unbeatable beauty while the jack off part of the males whistled and shouted vulgar things to both her and occasionally me. The only thing that was odd about the trip was being next to such a captivating creature like Karen. I felt like a wilted flower next to her, but I ignored the feeling and enjoyed my time with my new friend instead.

"That was a lot of fun," I told Karen as we drove home in her black sports car.

"I'm just glad to have another girl to hang with in a house of depressed people and guys," she said and we both laughed. It was when our laughter had died down that my stomach growled.

"Do you know what's for dinner?" I asked.

"I know what **I'm **having for dinner, but I don't know about **you**," Karen said.

"Well you guys still eat normal food right?" I asked.

"No, the only time we're hungry is when we're thirsty, but even then we're not hungry for food, but for blood," she said.

"Would you mind if we stopped by the store before heading back to your place so we can get some food for me?" I asked and Karen smiled.

"No problem," she said before pulling into another lane and soon pulling off the street and into a small parking lot.

"I've heard this is a pretty good place to get food. Personally I'm not sure if it is," she said and we both got out. Walking about the store was almost the same because everywhere we went, everyone stared at Karen.

"Do you always get this much attention?" I asked her as I looked through the strawberries for a good box.

"It's not only me they're looking at, but yeah. It gets kinda annoying," Karen said, not bothering to look through the food but instead just stood there with the shopping cart.

"I guess it would. Could you please get me some milk?" I asked and she smiled.

"Sure, you could use some strength in those bones of yours," she said, recalling when we were walking around the mall and I was struggling with my many heavy bags.

"Thanks Karen," I said as she walked off. Finally I found the strawberries I wanted and before I could turn around, I felt the cold breeze. My breath stopped and I was surprised I didn't drop the strawberries when I turned and came face to face with Xavier.

"Miss me Cutie because I missed you," he said, breathing in the scent of my neck as I stood there frozen.

"You can't touch me, there are too many people around," I whispered, hoping that what I just said was true.

"You can't hind in the store forever," Xavier said, his breath cold on my neck.

"Karen will be back soon," I said, my emerald eyes flicking over to another part of the large store.

"Soon is still enough time for me to carry you out of here, take you back to my place, and make you mine," he said and a shiver ran down my spine.

"I thought you wanted to kill me," I said, finally regaining my strength and putting the strawberries into the shopping cart.

"I've decided that that would be a huge waste, besides, I had a feeling you could please me more than just with your blood," Xavier said, his cold fingers trailing along my neck.

"In your dreams," I hissed, turning away so he was no longer touching me.

"If only I had them," Xavier said, following me as I pushed the cart through the store. I turned it to head towards where the milk was, but Xavier easily kept it going straight.

"Don't think you can go running off to Karen," he whispered to me and a cold sweat trailed down my neck.

"Even your sweat smells like heaven," Xavier said, obviously smelling me.

"If you take me Richard will find out and when he does-."

"He'll what? Run and come to save you? He thirsts for your blood just as much as I do and sooner of later he'll get tired of waiting and just take it," Xavier cut me off.

"Richard wouldn't do that," I said quickly.

"What makes you think that he isn't the same as the rest of us. If I took your blood now it would be no different from if he took your blood," he said.

"Yes it would. You would take my blood because you lusted for it, because you wanted it, and you wouldn't think twice about it. Richard would actually consider what he was doing to me and it would be for a reason," I said.

"Cutie, you don't by any chance have feeling for Richard… do you?" Xavier asked.

"If by 'feelings' you mean I feel a lot safer with him than I do with you; then yes," I said.

"This is just perfect. You know Cutie, you really do know how to help a vampire out when it comes to ruining someone's life," he said.

"Glad I could help," I said before quickly looking down the isle. My eyes darted to the end where I saw milk and my heart beat quickened. If I was going to do this, I would have to do it fast.

"What are you looking at?" Xavier asked, his breath on my neck and ear sending shivers down my spine.

"Nothing," I lied before spinning around so I was now facing him. I was so close that my chest was pressed against his. I would have taken comfort if I'd felt the faint thump of his heart beat, but there was not heart beat to be heard. My eyes drifted up to Xavier's now hallow black eyes when moments ago they were a deep golden. Before I could really think of what I was doing, I went up on my tip-toes and pressed my lips to his. As we kissed, which was quiet cold since Xavier was dead; my hands reached back into the cart and groped for something. Finally my hands found a loaf of bread and I knew it wouldn't do much, but I hoped it would buy me enough time to run towards Karen. I grabbed it firmly in my hand and to make sure Xavier didn't pull away, I allowed him access to my mouth. I lifted the loaf of bread up above my head as his tongue roamed my mouth and when I was about to bring it down on his head, a cold hand was holding arm in place and I was staring into Xavier's black eyes.

"Did you honestly think that would work?" he asked. In shock, I dropped the bread while he laughed.

"Karen!" I screamed and within seconds Xavier had me in his grasp and Karen was standing in front of us.

"Let her go Xavier," she said, never removing her eyes from us as she pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

"Get down to the store now, we have a problem," Karen said before hanging up and putting the phone back in her pocket.

"I'm glad you told Richard to come, it will be all the more fun," Xavier said, holding me still. Within minutes, Richard and the others were surrounding us, their teeth clenched and low growls coming from their chests.

"Let her go Xavier," Bruce said, the only one that looked calm.

"I think you'll be wise to listen to my orders," Xavier said and Bruce nodded to tell him to go on.

"Since I don't want Cutie to go hungry, we'll act normal and buy her this food. Bruce, cough up the wallet," he said, holding out his hand. Bruce pulled out a simple black wallet from his pocket and threw it to Xavier who caught it in a blink of an eye.

"After we buy the food, Kory will come with me to my car and I'll drive her to a place with less people to watch. You're group will follow," he said, bystanders looking over with watchful eyes.

"Understood," Bruce said before Xavier harshly turned me around and placed my hands on the cart.

"Is there anything else you wanted to get?" he asked, his breath on my neck as he breathed in my scent and several growls erupted from the group. Unable to speak, I just moved my cart towards the checkers while Richard's clan surrounded us. As I slowly walked ahead, Xavier kept his arms on either side, making sure I couldn't move.

"Are you alright Ms.? You look like you're about to faint?" the checker asked, looking from my pale face to Xavier's smirk, to the others surrounding us.

"I'm fine," I answered quickly, afraid that if I said anything else my voice would crack. When she finished, Xavier took out a handful of twenties and put them on the scanner before tossing the wallet back to Bruce.

"If somebody will be so kind to get those?" Xavier asked, his grasp on me strong as we began to walk out of the store. Allen took the bags in his hands and began to walk them towards one of the many cars outside.

"Don't try to run away Cutie," Xavier said before pushing me out of the store with the others following. Outside, the first thing I noticed was the group of sports cars that was parked in the parking lots.

"I'll try not to drive too fast," Xavier said before opening the door for me and placing me in his dark red sports car. Before I could even reach for the door, Xavier was next to me, my seat belt was buckled in, the car was on, and the doors were locked.

"What part do you not understand about don't try to run away?" he asked and before asking for an answer he pulled out of the parking lot. As we drove down the highway, I looked in the mirror and everytime I did, Richard was in the car behind us. Behind me was a line of sports car, with no other cars in between. If Xavier switched over a lane, so did all the others at almost the exact time…it was kinda odd to say the least.

The car stopped and before I could blink Xavier had pulled me out of the car and I was shivering in the biting winter night air.

"What do you want with her Xavier?" Raven asked, they were all in a circle surrounding Xavier and I.

"I think you all know what I want with Cutie, but the only reason I'm doing this the fair way is because Slade wants something from her. Claims there's something special about her, but personally I think he just wants to bang her," Xavier said and I frowned in disgust.

"You're a pig," I spat and he laughed.

"Is that really the best you can do? Throw a couple on meaningless words at me and hope that they work?" Xavier asked, tightening his grip to the point where he was crushing my ribs and I gasped for air when he let me go.

"What do you want Xavier? We're here and you still have Kory in your possession," Bruce said.

"That is true and I like it that way," Xavier said.

"Did you even have a reason to go to the store and take me?" I asked.

"Wanting to see you is suddenly not enough? Now I have to have a reason too?" he asked.

"So Slade didn't ask you to and you're acting on your own? I wonder what he'll think of that because he doesn't like people not following his rules," Richard spoke, stepping closer.

"You should know since you worked for him," Xavier said.

"Once and I only did it to save Barbara!" Richard yelled.

"It's just too bad it all went to shame. Tell me Richard, do you remember the look on her eyes when I sank my teeth into her neck; draining away her life," Xavier asked and Richard growled.

"I only regret that I became attached to her," he said, his fists clenched into balls.

"I'm glad you did, it makes the pleasure of fucking her every night that much sweeter. Knowing that you loved her," Xavier purred and Richard's eyes turned pitch black before he went to lung forward. In that split second that Richard jumped forward, Gar, Victor, Allen, and Wally had jumped in front of him to hold him back. At the same exact time, Xavier's cold lips were against my neck and I could feel the sharp points of his teeth.

"I'd control yourself Richard, wouldn't want me taking two things that you hold dear," he taunted, his mouth never moving from my neck.

"Xavier! Let the girl go!" a mysterious deep voice yelled out from somewhere in the trees.

"But I was just getting started," Xavier complained and I guessed that it was Slade he was talking to.

"Let her go!" he yelled and Xavier growled.

"This time I leave her with a scratch," he said, making a cut into my neck with his sharp nails.

"Next time you won't be so lucky," Xavier said before tossing me to the ground and disappearing.

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Just a little warning if you haven't already caught on, there is swearing and sexual content.

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Please review!

Kattie


	7. Monster

While I fell, one of my hands went to my neck to stop the bleeding while the other one went out in front of me so the blow wouldn't be that hard. Sadly, one hand wasn't enough so I fell to the ground hard and it knocked the wind out of me. So now my neck was bleeding, I was surrounded by vampires, and I couldn't breath.

"Give me your shirt!" Raven yelled to someone in the surrounding circle and a black shirt was tossed to her. Raven quickly tore a piece off and pressed it down on my bleeding neck while I began to breathe again.

"How bad is it?" I asked, my voice weak.

"Don't talk, it makes it bleed more," Raven said and when I looked around I noticed that most of the group was gone.

"They left because you're bleeding, most can't handle that kind of temptation," Bruce answered my unasked question. I simply nodded weakly before Raven's cold hands were holding my neck and for a second I thought she would start chocking me, but instead I felt a tingling in my neck and soon it was only a small trickle of blood coming from it.

_"Richard wasn't lying about her having special healing abilities!" _I thought before my thoughts took a quick turn to Richard.

_"Where is he?" _I thought, looking around to find that Bruce, Raven, Karen, Victor, and Allen were the only one's remaining. A part of me was pleased that Richard was gone because it meant that he wanted my blood and couldn't stand to be near it because it would drive him insane with thirst. But another part of me was sad because I wanted him with me now, so I would feel safe.

"Damn it! He got away!" Richard swore, appearing from the trees… shirtless. Now was that a sight to see because he was built! Not overly built and not as built as Victor, but I had to control myself from not jumping him there. Richard's chest was tan and built to perfection, thoughts of my hands trailing over his muscles made my fingers twitch. His face was plagued with being forever breathtaking, but now anger was blended in with it. A face that any normal person would fear, but I found it stunning that someone could show so much emotion. My eyes trailed down from Richard's face to his toned chest once again and thoughts of my naked body laying next to his made me wet.

"It's alright Richard; we know where he's going," Bruce said calmly, looking over at Richard and then back at me.

"I thought you were watching her Karen!" Richard yelled, sending her death glares. Victor quickly stepped forward to defend her, his body towering over Richard's. Before something between the two could happen I decided it was time to speak up.

"I'm fine, really," I said, my voice weak. Victor looked over at me, but Richard refused to.

"What's the damage Raven?" he asked instead, staying where he was but looking over at her.

"She'll be fine Richard, just a little rest and Kory will only have a small scare," Raven said and his stiff posture loosened some to a more relaxed state.

"I'll take her back," he said, still refusing to look at me which crushed my heart.

"Do you want you're shirt?" Raven asked as he scoped me up in his arms, holding up the piece of torn clothing.

"Burn it with the other evidence," Richard said quickly before walking away from the clearing.

"I can walk Richard," I said after he'd been carrying me through the forest for a while.

"You need to rest," Richard said, still not looking at me.

"Is it really that hard to be next to me that you won't even look at me when you talk to me?" I snapped and his eyes darted to mine quickly although instead of his normal blue eyes, they were darker, almost black.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said, looking away from me.

"No it's my fault, I should have realized," I mumbled and the rest of the way back to his car was silent. Even the drive home was silent and I found it now **extremely** hard to be next to Richard when he was shirtless and we were alone. When we reached they're place, Richard was at my door before I could even move.

"I can walk Richard. Really, I'm fine," I told him before getting out of the car and beginning to walk towards the large house.

"Can you find you're way back to your room?" Richard asked after opening the main doors for me.

"I think I can, if I get lost I'll just wander around and fall asleep in some corner or on a couch if I'm lucky enough to find one," I said before in a small breeze, he was gone and I was on my own once again. I was glad there was only one starting hallway so I took it and soon found a fork in the road.

_"If I can find the hospital room type place then I'll be able to find my room," _I thought, unsure what to call the room I first woke in. Luckily for me, I was able to easily find the room because there was a red cross on the door leading to it. Once I found that room I easily found my bedroom.

"Get a little lost?" Raven asked once I walked into the room.

"Not really," I said, wondering why she was there.

"I want to check out your cut. Richard took you away before I could really inspect it," she said and I nodded before walking over to her.

"Do you know where Richard is?" I asked as she turned my head to get a good look at my neck.

"He's probably feeding right now, but don't be scared or judge him. Richard's just doing it for your safety," Raven said.

"Is he always this protective?" I asked.

"Well, only to me and you and _her_. That vile woman who claimed she loved him. What a bunch of bullshit she was feeding him," Raven spat her eyes darkening with hatred.

"Are you talking about Barbara?" I asked.

"How'd you learn about her?" she asked.

"Xavier brought her up, hoping to make Richard angry and careless, though it didn't work," I said, trying to hide the smile on my lips.

"You seem pleased about that," Raven said, catching my happiness.

"I'm just simply glad that Xavier didn't get to Richard," I partially lied.

"Kory I'm just warning you now that Richard isn't the most open person except when it comes to showing he's mad. I just don't want you to get your hopes up and then get hurt," she said before standing.

"I'll be back in the morning to check on it again," Raven said before leaving my room. When I went over to the window to close the curtains, the moon cast haunted shadows over everything; making the once cheerful meadow now dead. A chilling shiver ran up my spine, but I still kept the curtains open, unable to get myself to pull them closed. I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and pulled it over my head, slipping out of my shoes as I did. I was glad to find my newly bought clothes washed and folded neatly in my drawers. I slipped out of the rest of my clothes and changed into a pair of shorts and a tang top from Victoria's Secret. I then pulled my hair up into a messy bun and crawled into my soft bed. Before I fell asleep, my eyes darted over to the window where from a distance; I could have sworn I saw bright eyes watching me.

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_Run was all I could seem to do. Nothing else but run, run from the fear that chased after me because I knew the person I was running from could catch up in a heartbeat if he had a heart to beat. _

_"Why do you run Kory? Afraid I'll hurt you?" he mocked, his voice echoing all around me. From what I'd known of him before, he would never hurt me, but now I ran from him because he was out to hurt me._

_"Stay away!" I screamed, but my only response was his cold laughter._

_"You're blood calls to me Kory and I want it. Why keep me from what I want. I thought you loved me!" he now yelled, his voice harsher._

_"I loved Richard! Not you! You're just a monster like Xavier!" I yelled and cold hands were holding me still. _

_"I am Richard, don't you recognize me?" he asked, forcing me to look up into his eyes. Instead of seeing his blue eyes, I just saw his pitch black eyes that thirst for me but not in the way he'd thirst for me before, this was a thirst for my blood._

_"You're not Richard," I spat and he forced my lips onto his. The kiss was cold and heartless, with no feeling. I fought against his hold, against his touch, but no matter what I did he would always be stronger than me._

"Let me go!" I screamed before sitting up in my bed, cold sweat dripping down my forehead and a large circle of it sticking to my back. In seconds Richard was at my side, concern in his eyes.

"Get away from me!" I screamed, trying to get myself away from him, my nightmare replying in my head.

"What's wrong Richard?" Bruce asked, now at the foot of my bed with the others surrounding my bed.

"I don't know, she just started screaming in her sleep," Richard said and he slowly reached for me again.

"Don't touch me!" I spat, near tears from fear and from the look on his face.

"I know what the problem is," Richard said before leaving my room and returning to his. Once he was gone I began to cry, hugging my knees to my chest as tears rolled down my pale cheeks.

"Everybody leave her alone," Bruce said before they all left the room.

"Will you be alright on your own?" he asked. I nodded before my room was empty again. Once alone, my tears began to stop and guilt washed over me as I remembered the look on Richard's face.

"Richard?" I whispered and soon he was standing in the open doorway. My eyes landed on his and I was relieved to see they were still a bright blue color.

"You can come closer, I'm not afraid of you," I said, but he remained still.

"It was just a bad dream Richard caused by Xavier," I said and Richard finally moved into the light.

"Then why were you scared of me?" he asked.

"Well you were in it too," I said.

"It's because of earlier, when I refused to look at you and I was thirsty. I scared you, didn't I?" Richard asked.

"It wasn't you, it was your eyes," I admitted and he quickly looked away from me.

"Richard it was just a stupid nightmare, I'm over it now," I said, but he still refused to look at me.

"Do you want to know more about my dream?!" I yelled, slightly angry that he wouldn't believe me when I said I was fine.

"It was dark and I running from you. You caught up to me and asked me why I was running and if I was afraid of you. I screamed at you to stay away," as I spoke, I noticed at Richard's hand's began to clench into tight fists and it seemed that he was angry with himself.

"You said that my blood called to you and then you asked me why I wouldn't give it to you! You said that you thought I trusted you," I said, substituting 'love' with 'trust'.

"I said that I trusted Richard and that you weren't him but just a monster like Xavier. You claimed to be Richard and asked if I recognized you. I said that you weren't Richard and then you grabbed my head and tilted my neck back. I tried to fight against your hold, but you were stronger than me. I woke up after that," I said and when I looked to Richard he was staring at me in a state of shock.

"Do you still believe I'm a _monster_?" he asked and I shook my head.

"I already told you that it was a dream and that I'm over it," I said.

"I'm sorry I scared you Kory," Richard said.

"You didn't scare me," I said before he was gone and once again I was alone.

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So I know that that last part was bordering some kind of confession, but it's WAY too early for that. Like maybe in the next 5 chapters or something. (Depending on how fast I make the time go by)

Anyway please review and as always: I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**BY THE WAY! FIRST CHAPTER OF **_BEING WITH YOU ONLY BRINGS THE TEARS _**HAS BEEN POSTED!!! HURRY TO IT FOR THE DRAMA WILL BE OVERFLOWING FROM THAT STORY AS IT GOES ON!**

Kattie


	8. Bite

When I woke the next morning, sun pored into my room and I moaned in protest before turning away from the large window. Surprisingly though, when I turned away it became darker, darker than it should have. I turned back to the window to find the curtains drawn closed.

"Good morning Kory," Raven said, her voice in monotone.

"Are you here to check on my neck?" I asked, my fingers running over it and feeling the scab.

"Yeah so turn to the right," she said before there was a cold substance on my neck.

"Is that some special healing potion?" I asked.

"Yeah it's called water," Raven said and I laughed.

"I heard you had a nightmare last night and that Richard was in," Raven said and I sighed.

"I see news travels fast," I muttered.

"That and I was there last night when you woke up screaming," Raven said.

"Well I did have a nightmare and Richard was in it," I said.

"Is it because I said he was out feeding? Is that what frightened you? I really didn't mean to scare you," she said.

"You didn't mean to, but it sort of did. That and Richard's black eyes last night," I said and when I closed my eyes I saw his black eyes.

"It's probably just a side affect of being with a bunch of vampires that want your blood and then being held captive by Xavier for a while," Raven suggested before my neck began to tingle painfully as she healed it.

"Yeah my bets are on that," I said and the pain stopped.

"The cut is healed, all that's there is a small white line," Raven said.

"Thanks Rav-," I started, but she was already gone. I looked around my room, but it was completely empty. Getting out of bed, I stretched before peeking out the window. The sun was slightly covered by clouds, but otherwise it looked like a beautiful day. I went over to my dresser and pulled out a pair of white caprices, a light pink long sleeved shirt, and then white flip flops. After getting dressed and brushing my hair, I went outside and smiled. A light, but cold winter breeze blew through my hair and pieces of my red hair flew into my eyes. I felt the sun warm my tan skin and then heard a small bark. Confused, I looked around and stopped a small black puppy sitting in the grass and looking up at me; it's tail wagging.

"Aren't you just the cutest thing!" I said happily, going over to it. The puppy's tail wagged more and rolled over onto it's back so I could scratch his belly.

"I just have to show you to the others," I said to myself, looking at the puppy's chocolate eyes.

"Show what to the others?" Richard asked from behind me. I turned to smile to him before bending over to pick up the puppy.

"Look how cute he is!" I said happily before the dog bit my hand. As first reaction, I dropped it and it ran off while my hand bled.

"Kory are you alright?" Richard asked, at my side.

"I'm fine, it was just a small bite," I said but in real it was a very large bite and I was beginning to feel dizzy.

"You've lost too much blood, I have to get you to Raven," he said before picking me up just as I fainted.

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"I went outside after getting dressed. The dog barked and it was wagging its tail so I thought it was nice and cute. I let it sniff me and then while I was petting it, the dog rolled over onto its back so I could scratch his belly. That's when Richard came out and I picked up the puppy to show it to him. The dog bit me, I lose a lot of blood, faint, an hour later here I am re-telling the story for like the 10th time," I said while Bruce sat in a chair nearby and Raven was at my hand checking on it every like minute while Richard was outside hunting for the dog with Gar and Victor.

"Did you notice anything odd about the dog?" Bruce asked.

"He had soft fur, four paws, a wet nose, pink tongue, a tail, two chocolate eyes, and two floppy ears on his head," I said.

"Was the dog still intact?" Bruce asked.

"If you're asking if he still had balls, then yes," I said.

"That could be the reason right there, too much testosterone. If the dog was used to living on it's own for the time period it's been alive then when you went to pick it up it wasn't used to it so it attacked you," Bruce said.

"Sure, what you said," I said before Richard came into the room holding the dog by the neck.

"Found it," he said.

"That damn dog almost peed on my leg!" Victor cried, walking in after Richard and glaring at the dog.

"I thought it was pretty funny to see this big guy chasing after a small dog and swearing at it," Gar laughed, following the two in.

"Yeah absolutely hilarious," Victor muttered sarcastically.

"Glad you boys found it, we'll scan DNA and check if it's had it's shots," Bruce said before standing.

"Raven how is the bite looking?" he asked, walking over to her.

"Odd, really odd. If it was any other type of dog then it would be a bite and I'd have to clean it out so I could heal it properly, but this bite is different. I've cleaned it multiple times, but the infection is still there and it looks like one of our bites," Raven said and Bruce quickly grabbed my hand to inspect it.

"Slade."

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"Ah Bruce, how wonderful to talk to you again. Now what do I owe the favor?" Slade asked, the same voice from the night when Xavier took me.

"I think you know very well why I've called you Slade," Bruce said, his face serious.

"So Ms. Anders found my dog did she? Oh and it bit her, didn't he? Well I'll have to give the dog a treat when I see it again, if I ever do because I have a feeling you plan to kill it," Slade said.

"He planned the whole damn thing," Wally said angrily.

"So Mr. West isn't just fast on his feet he's fast in the head too," Slade mocked.

"You have a cure don't you Slade?" Raven asked.

"Because everything I've tried isn't working," she added.

"And here I thought you were good at what you did. Yes of course I have a cure because I would hate to waste something as important as Ms. Anders," Slade said.

"Slade we'll send someone over to get it so she doesn't die," Bruce said and at the words of 'so she doesn't die' I cringed.

"It's not that simple Bruce because since I've planned it out, I have a plan for this part too," Slade said.

"Continue," Bruce said calmly.

"Ms. Anders will come to my place and Mr. Red will bring her here," Slade said and several growls came from the group.

"She won't go anywhere with that monster!" Richard snapped.

"If I recall correctly, last night Ms. Anders had a dream and you were the monster, not Xavier," Slade said and I gasped.

"How did you find out about that?" I asked.

"I know you saw the eyes in the meadow last night Ms. Anders those were mine because I wanted to make sure everything went to plan," Slade said.

"It doesn't matter! She isn't going anywhere with Xavier," Richard said.

"She won't be going alone Mr. Grayson; you will be coming with her. All I want is her to come here so I can give her the cure and she can recover. Mr. Grayson will be there to make sure we don't try anything and when I say 'we' I mean everyone but me because she will never truly see me except at dinner," Slade said.

"Richard are you okay with this?" Bruce asked, turning to him.

"Yeah I'll go," Richard said and inside I was cheering.

"Xavier will be over there in two hours," Slade said before hanging up.

"You two should go get packed then," Bruce said, turning to Richard and I.

"Don't worry Kory, I'll help you," Karen said before Richard left the room. She then took my good hand and began to practically drag me down the hall towards my room. When we got there, Karen pulled out a suitcase that I didn't even know was there and began to pack my clothes.

"Karen do you think it's a trap? That once Richard and I get there they'll just kill Richard and then take me?" I asked, fearful for Richard's life and my own.

"Though you may not think it possible Kory, Slade is a man of his word which is really frightening because when he says he's going to kill you; unless you're really lucky, you're dead within the next two weeks. The only person that's ever survived after he said he would kill them was Raven and even she is still haunted by what she went through before we saved her," Karen told me.

"So you truly believe that Slade wants me over there simply so that he can heal me and that he isn't planning something else to happen at the same time?" I asked, misbelieving that that was truth.

"I never said that, I'm just saying that he won't hurt you. You'll be back in two weeks tops when you're healed and Richard will be returning with you. The only thing you have to watch out for is Xavier because that you're in his place, he may try something on you," she warned me.

"You mean he'll try to bite me?" I asked, my hand subconsciously going up to my neck where I had been cut.

"No, I mean he'll try to get you into bed. Don't take any food, drink, clothes, ANYTHING from him. He could drug it and then rape you," Karen said and I gulped.

"So I have to be on high alert all the time?" I asked.

"Richard will probably do that for you, so not all the time," she said before we continued packing. Within the next hour I was done packing and just sitting in a soft chair that was in a corner of my room, looking at my bitten hand. There was a knock on my door and I stood to answer it only to be pleasantly surprised to find Richard on the other side.

"Hi," I said.

"I just came to make sure you were packed," Richard said, remaining in the hall while my fingers grazed over the cut.

"Karen helped me pack so I'm all ready," I said, a small smile on my lips. As I brushed over the cut again with my fingers, I winced from hitting a sensitive part of it. Richard quickly looked for the source of my pain and his eyes fall on my hands that were hanging in front of me.

"It's become a habit," I admitted quietly, a small blush on my face from embarrassment that he had seen me do that.

"I can wrap it for you," Richard offered and I nodded before moving to the side so he could come in. Richard moved over to my bathroom and searched through the drawers before coming back out with a small role of gauze for my hand. He guided me over to my bed where I sat and he crouched down so he could see my hand better. Richard gently picked up my hand, his touch soft. At first his hand was cold, but the heat coming from my own hand, which was a lot because I was blushing from him being so close, warmed his.

"Thank you," I said quietly when he was done wrapping my hand.

"You're welcome," Richard said before our eyes met. It seemed that as we stared into each other's souls that we slowly became closer so that our faces were mere inches apart. My breath quickened when I realized just how close we were before I slowly closed the gap between us in a soft kiss. At first the kiss was simply just our lips pressed softly together, but then it eloped so that my arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, my hands playing with strands of his hair. Richard's arms wrapped around my thin waist and his hands rested on my back holding me up as we kissed. Soon the urge for air became too much and I sadly pulled away from him, my face flushed and lips swollen. I stared at his eyes that were now a darker shade of blue and was pleased to see that he was breathing harder now.

"I'm sorry," Richard said before quickly vanishing from my room, leaving in a small breeze. I stayed on my bed, frozen, but my fingers touched my lips where his had been just moments ago. I sighed happily before falling back onto my bed, a blush lingering on my already red cheeks.

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OMG!!! IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!! Yes, they did kiss, but it wasn't a love confession so I don't think I'm rushing their relationship at all. Please review because I'm REALLY pleased with how this chapter turned out!

Kattie


	9. Kory's Story

As the two hours Richard and I had to pack neared an end, I became very nervous. One: because I had to spend two weeks in the same place as Xavier, two: because I had to spend two weeks with Richard after we just kissed, and three: because Richard had to spend two weeks near Barbara. I didn't know the girl at all, but after I found out that she and Richard were once in a serious relationship, I hated her. Call me jealous, but I'm really afraid. I was afraid that after spending two weeks with Barbara, Richard will fall in love with her again and leave me even though we weren't really together.

_"Richard wouldn't do that would he?" _I questioned mentally as I paced my room, glancing at the door that led to his room every minute or so.

_"We just kissed and it was heated! He really wouldn't leave me when he sees his ex-girlfriend would he?" _I thought and for like the millionth time in the past ten minutes I looked over at the door. When I was about to walk over to it, there was a knock on the door and I jumped. I went over to the door and opened to see Richard on the other side, his luggage behind him. The air between us was thick so I smiled sweetly at him before turning to get my own luggage.

"I'm sorry about earlier Kory, it was a mistake," Richard said and my smile dropped; did he really think of it as a mistake? Was there no feeling in our kiss?

"You don't have to be sorry about everything Richard, we're only human," I said without thinking.

"Well I'm human… but you're a guy so its fine. Everyone makes mistakes," I said, using the word he had used to describe our kiss.

"It won't happen again though, so you don't have to worry," Richard said.

"Really Richard I don't mind that we kissed," I said and he tensed at the word.

"You regret it don't you?" I asked, noticing the way he reacted.

"It wasn't just a mistake to you, but completely unwanted instead. You hated every fucking second of it wish that it never happened all together. Thanks Richard, you really know how to make someone feel better," I said bitterly before taking my things and quickly walking past him as tears fell from my eyes. I heard my door close and then there was a small breeze before Richard standing in front of him.

"It's not that I hated it Kory, I did enjoy it, but it's not safe for you. Something like that, a simple kiss, is tempting me and it took almost all my strength right there to stop myself from biting you," Richard said and I stared up at him.

"How much of this do you think is safe for me at all? I'm living with a whole bunch of vampires and I'm the only human! How is a _simple kiss _any less safer than the rest of this?!" I yelled.

"You really don't understand how much I want you right now. How much I long to sink my teeth into your neck and drink every last drop of your blood. How much I wish I could take you now so you clung to me while I lustfully drank you. So yes, a _simple kiss _does do just that and much more when standing near you now is already doing that," Richard said and I was left shocked… and wet.

"Xavier is here now," Bruce said interrupting our stare down.

"We'll be right there," Richard said before Bruce walked off slow enough for me to see him leave.

"Come on Kory, we should leave," Richard said quietly before taking both his own and my things and beginning to walk away.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you Richard," I said while we walked toward the front door.

"You had every right to be mad, after all; you're only human," he said with a smirk and I smiled back in reply. Once we reached the long dirt road driveway outside, I squinted from the sun that hung high in the sky during the afternoon and shivered from the cold breeze of winter.

"I'm really looking forward to having more time with you Cutie," Xavier said, his breath cold on my neck. I turned around and realized just how close we were.

"I'm looking forward to when I leave," I said and Xavier frowned.

"Now why do you have to be like that and ruin all the fun Cutie? I know you've been dying for some alone time with me," he said, looking me over.

"Yeah so I can give you a piece of my mind you pervert," I spat. Xavier laughed at this.

"Do you plan on trying to harm me Cutie because I could easily beat you and then do as I please," he said and I glared at him before Richard growled and pulled me near him.

"You won't have a chance to be alone with **Kory **because she won't be leaving my sight," he said.

"And you call me a pervert **Cutie, **I'm not the one that's going to be watching you when you change," Xavier said and I rolled my eyes.

"Can we just leave already?" I asked, drawing both their attention to me.

"Sure," Xavier said and before he could reach for my things Richard hand them in his hand.

"She'll ride with me and you'll lead," he said before guiding me over to his car while Xavier went to another one. Richard put our things in the back before opening my door and getting into the driver's seat.

"You don't have to worry about him Kory, I won't let him touch you," he said as we began to drive off.

"I trust you Richard," I said, giving him a small smile before leaning back against the leather seats.

"How long will it take to get there?" I asked.

"By foot it would normally take a few hours. By car it will take almost ten, but we'll stop for small breaks every two hours or so," Richard said before I sighed.

"Joy," I mumbled sarcastically before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

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I woke up to the sound of a horn honking and slowly looked around to find that it was now night.

"How long did I sleep?" I asked, yawning and stretching.

"Almost five hours," Richard said, his eyes flicking over to me.

"How much longer do you think we'll be driving?" I asked, rubbing away the sleep that lingered in my eyes.

"An hour or two more," Richard said and I yawned once more.

"Can we pull over soon? I have to use the bathroom," I said. Richard flicked on his blinker and soon Xavier's was on as well and we pulled off the freeway. Soon we stopped at a gas station where I got out and stretched once again.

"Why'd we pull over?" Xavier asked, walking over to us.

"I had to go to the bathroom I said before leaving the two and heading towards the bathrooms inside the small building.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Richard asked following me in.

"Yes please," I said before he turned off and I continued towards the unisex bathroom. I went in side and after finishing my business I washed my hands and looked over myself in the mirror. Brushing through my hair with my fingers, I became frustrated with it and pulled it up into a messy bun with the black hair tie that had been around my wrist. I applied some lip gloss to my lips noticing that the cold winter air had made them dry before fixing my shirt and leaving the bathroom. I went outside again to find that Richard was leaning up against the car, but Xavier was gone.

"He went to find some hitch hiker," Richard explained and I felt pity for the one he found.

"Do you need to…? I'm fine on my own if you really do," I said, unable to say the word.

"I'll go while you're sleeping," he said and I nodded before Xavier returned, still dabbing off some of the blood with a napkin.

"Don't think I still don't thirst for you," he purred to me. I ignored him before getting into Richard's car so we could continue our trip. Xavier got into his own car and Richard slid into the driver's seat before starting the car and following Xavier back to the freeway.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted so I got you this," Richard said, handing me a water and large bag of Skittles.

"Skittles are my favorite," I said with a smile before opening the bag and looking for a red.

"Are you just going to eat all the reds and then throw away the rest?" Richard asked, his eye brow raised.

"No, I like the purple ones too," I said and he laughed.

"Stop laughing at me," I said before throwing an orange one at him and laughing.

"You have to pick that up," Richard said.

"It's one Skittle! Every car has one of those lying around!" I said and Richard laughed at me again.

"Well mine doesn't, so you have to find it and throw it away," he said.

"I'm not gonna go searching around a small sports car for an orange Skittle while you're driving because I'd have to climb all over you since I threw it at you and that would not look good at all for people driving by. They'd probably think I was trying to give you a lap dance while you drove," I said and Richard laughed.

"I've actually seen that once when I went to a club and it was very… odd," he said and I laughed at him.

"What kind of clubs do you go to?" I asked.

"Fun ones. I could take you there one of these nights, it wasn't far from where Xavier is taking us," Richard said.

"I guess it's a good thing Karen packed me some _interesting _clothes," I said, earning an odd look from him.

"She thought I should have some 'fun' clothes too, but after going through her closet, my 'fun' looks like reading a dictionary," I said.

"Did you see that one yellow dress that ended at mid-thigh and had black stripes on it? There was no back to it and it had a low v-neck," Richard said.

"Yeah, how do you know about it?" I asked.

"She wore it to her 21 birthday and Victor seemed to like it a lot. They were the first to retire to bed," he explained.

"So they are together! I thought I noticed a connection between them," I said.

"Yeah they've been together for almost three years and everyone has bets on when they're going to tie the knot," Richard said.

"I'm glad they'll be happy," I said, my voice saddened while I thought of my most recent ex.

"You okay Kory?" Richard asked, picking up on my sadness.

"I'm fine, just taking an unwanted stroll down memory lane," I said, my eyes looking outside at the surrounding darkness.

"Bad ex?" he asked and I nodded.

"You could call him that, I was with him for almost 4 years," I said.

"Wow, that's a long time," Richard said.

"Yup, four fucking wonderful years with that ass hole," I said bitterly.

"If you don't want to talk about him you don't have to," Richard said but I shook my head.

"No, I want to talk about this. My closest friends don't even know the whole story, all they know is what they saw when we were together," I said.

"I met him while I was in college to become a nurse so you couldn't really call us high school sweethearts and even if I had been dating him in high school, we still wouldn't be that. It was purely by chance that I met him because he's a race car driver. I went to my friend's birthday party and he was there; one of those love at first sight things. For him, I was simply just another prize he could claim in bed."

"After enough drinks because I was bored out of my mind, he insisted that he drove me home since I was drunk. Well I let him drive me home and that was my downfall. When we got to my place, I dragged him into my house and slept with him. Worse thing I could ever do was give my virginity to that prick," I said as tears threatened to fall.

"When I woke up the next morning my head was pounding from drinking so much and when I found myself naked in bed I sobbed while everything came back to me. The party, the drinks, him, sleeping with him, and then I noticed that he wasn't even there still. So then I began to think that I lost my virginity to some guy who used my for a one night stand and I cried harder," I said, tears now rolling down my cheeks one at a time.

"It was while I was cursing myself for drinking under age when I was just 19, I'm now 23, that I found the note on the pillow. _'Sorry I had to leave early, I forgot that I had a race. I'll be here at 7 to pick you up for dinner,' _it read and then he signed his name. After re-reading that note like twenty times, a wave of relief came over me because it came to my attention that I wasn't just some one night stand, that I had given it up, but still got him. What a trade that was. So I quickly ran over to my TV and turned it to the race to find him in 4th and almost 3rd. I made me proud to see my 'boyfriend' doing that well in the race at such a young age," I said, the tears coming faster now.

"At five, I started getting ready, making sure I looked absolutely amazing for him and I did. Every night after that I always made sure I looked amazing because we would always be in the public eye and there would always be at least one camera following us. Had I realized then that he was just using me as arm candy and someone to fuck almost every other night then I would have left him, but no. I was just a stupid girl in love who believed that he was the best thing ever and at first he was. For the first year and a half he would always shower me with gifts and tell me how beautiful I looked when we went out for dinner. Most of the gifts he gave me were diamond ear rings and necklaces, things from Victoria's Secret, and then Princess, my now dead cat. Yup, he was the best," I said bitterly.

"When we reached our third year of being together, I realized that he stopped taking me out for dinner as much. He also didn't get me as many gifts as before and just started bringing me roses. I wasn't with him for the gifts, the money, or for the fact that he was famous, I was with him because I thought I loved him. I thought I wanted to marry him for Christ's sake! I really thought he would be the one that I would love forever and that I was the luckiest girl alive because I was with him, turned out I wasn't the only girl. I found out during our third year that he had been sleeping with another woman and I pleaded him to stop. He said he would and then took me to bed with him again for like the millionth time. When I woke up the next morning, I felt great because I knew that I was the only one and I was for a while. Though when I was with him for our 4th year, I discovered that he was cheating on me again and I left him," I said, my heart tearing in two as I told my story.

"I wouldn't talk to anyone for weeks after I left him and I had thoughts of suicide. When you took me I was still getting over him. My friend Terra was asking me to come to dinner with her and a group of friends, but I knew he would be there so I didn't go. I would have rather gone home and been bitten by Xavier and have died than go to dinner and have to face him again. It turned out that when I kissed him passionately, he was simply just making out with me. When I looked into his eyes, I had love in mine and he had lust in his. When I made love to him, he was simply just fucking me and using me as something to play with and I let him play with me. I let him toy with my mind to believe that I loved him. I let him toy with my body to make me believe that I owed him for the pleasure I showed him. God was I wrong," I said and I wiped away my tears.

"And now even though it's been a good almost half a year, I still cry when I think of him," I said.

"How pathetic am I?" I asked.

"You're not pathetic, you're human and he was a bastard," Richard said and I laughed.

"I feel so stupid for falling for him, for letting him do that to me," I said, continuing to eat my Skittles.

"You were young and inexperienced with love," Richard said.

"I still am because I've been on my own since then, totally ignoring the opposite sex. I've gotten plenty of offers and even had my own one night stand after going clubbing with my friends, but other than that I still think about him and cry. Because of him I'm afraid to love because love is a weakness," I said grimly.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that," Richard said.

"I'm just glad I finally told someone about it. Now I can die happily knowing that someone knows what happened. My friends just think that he broke up with me, asses," I muttered under my breath.

"They're not asses, they just didn't know the truth," Richard said.

"And they'll never know the truth because he just lies about it and I won't tell them. If I told them about it they would go over there and kick his ass, but I don't want that for him. Sure he was my first lover, broke my heart, and made me afraid to love, but I would never wish for something bad to happen to him," I said.

"That's because you're a good person Kory," Richard told me.

"Everyone tells me that," I said before we turned off the freeway again.

"Are we stopping for another break?" I asked.

"No, we're just getting closer. Only thirty minutes more," Richard said.

"I really killed almost two hours telling you my story?" I asked and he nodded.

"That is why I haven't told my friends. They would interrupt all the time yelling at me for getting drunk and sleeping with a guy when I was 19. They would tell me how blind I was for not seeing that he was just using me from the beginning. They would yell at me some more when I told the part of how I took him back even after he cheated on my. They would then finally be happy when I left him after he cheated on my again and they would tell me how sorry they were and all that shit that I don't need to hear and that I don't want to hear. They would also be crying and I don't need any more tears shed because of him," I said.

"Does he have a name?" Richard asked.

"Yes **he **does, but I haven't said it for the past three months and in the past three months I also haven't cried about him until now. I broke one promise that I would never cry for him again already, I don't want to break another promise too," I said.

"It's probably best for me not to know his name because I would most likely hunt him down and kick his ass," Richard said with a smirk.

"Would you really?" I asked.

"Of course, only a sick bastard would make someone afraid to love and I would just be getting rid of one more," he said and I laughed lightly.

"I'm glad to hear you laugh instead of cry Kory," Richard said and I smiled at him.

"Thank you Richard," I said and even though the car had stopped we stayed inside and stared at each other again. As my heart beat louder, our faces neared once again and for once I wasn't afraid. I wasn't afraid to be near him and it felt good, not pleasure good, but simply good. Before our lips could meet, there was a knock on the door and I jumped pulling away from him. I left the car and got my things out of the back before looking at the place before me.

"It may look beautiful, but just wait until you see the inside… it's even better," Xavier said proudly as Richard stood next to me.

"Wow," was all I had to say before following Xavier into the palace before us with Richard next to me.

"Oh my god."

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So I left you with A LOT to read!!! This chapter was 8 pages long!!! OMG!!! My longest by far!! Please review and the guy Kory was talking about will be revealed soon, but I bet most of you already know. If you think you know, please don't tell anyone else because he joins us in the story in later chapters. When I say later, I mean in like the next two chapters or something and things get oh so juicy after it!!!

I like seriously can't wait for those chapters!! I'm gonna be writing super fast!!! So please review and I hope you enjoy my super long chapter!!!

Kattie


	10. Watching Over

Just like Xavier had said, the inside of the palace was even more beautiful than the outside. Even though I would never say it, it was much better than where I had been staying… in looks at least. I'm sure the people here are not nearly as nice as the ones I had become so used to in the past few days.

"I must admit Red, this place is nice," Richard said, looking around as well.

"Sure beats the crap out of your place Grayson," Xavier said with a smirk.

"We'll see if you can keep it up though because I doubt you can," Richard said.

"Not sure what that meant, but I'm sure I'll do what you doubt I won't," Xavier said and I rolled my eyes.

"Be a good host Xavier, please show me to my room," I said, pulling the two out of their death glare match.

"Right this way Cutie," he said before turning down a hallway that was lit with the moon light coming in through the glass roof and dim lights that hung on the walls.

"It really is a nice place Xavier, I'm surprised," I said.

"Surprised? Why?" he asked.

"Well since you act like a pervert and don't really represent yourself right so I just assumed that you lived in some cave or something and that you didn't even have indoor plumbing," I said and he shot me a glare.

"First impressions do matter Xavier," I said, before he turned away from me. I looked over at Richard to see a pleased smirk on his flawless face.

"If I had my way, you'd be staying in your room, in my bed, with me all the time, and things like that, But Slade has this thing about me and you being in the same room alone so he put your room like all the way down the hall from mine," Xavier explained, stopping in front of a white door. He opened it and then stepped to the side allowing me to enter.

"I know it isn't as great as the place they've got you staying in, but it's not like your going to be living here. When you are living here after joining me and leaving Richard, you'll be staying and sleeping in my room which is much bigger and much better than Richard's room," Xavier said, glaring at Richard.

"Honestly I wouldn't know because I've never been in either of the two rooms, but I don't need a tore either," I said before setting down my things so I could walk around without having to carry them with me. The room was large, no, not large, but huge. It had a large fur rug lying at the foot of the king sized bed that was in the middle. There was door that led into a well sized closet, another door leading to a marble lined bathroom, and then was a desk in a corner that had a small lap on it, but nothing else. Along with there being a window, there was a part of the ceiling that was glass and right above my bed so I could sit in my bed and stare up at the stars. The room was missing a homey touch, but was lovely all the same.

"Your room in across from hers Grayson. I'll be back at seven to show you to dinner, dress nicely," Xavier said as he began to leave.

"When is someone going to look at my hand?" I asked, remembering the reason I was even there.

"Someone will be at your room tomorrow morning to look at it," he said before leaving me and Richard.

"Wow this place is nice," I said, sitting down on my soft white bed.

"It's a pleasant surprise from where I thought we would be staying for almost two weeks," Richard admitted.

"I'm gonna unpack now," I said and he nodded before turning towards the door.

"I'll be back before dinner," Richard said before leaving my room. After I had finished unpacking, which had taken a good hour, I looked at the clock and cursed; it was almost six. If I took a quick shower I would be able to still get dressed in time. Picking out something to wear would probably be the best thing to do first so I went to my closet where my nice dresses were. I looked through them briefly and decided on a white one that had a low back and showed some of my cleavage. I matched it with a pair of white kitten heals and decided on no make up. After that, I hopped into the shower and quickly washed my hair and body before shaving. Once I was done with my shower I got out and wrapped my body up in a white towel before blow drying my hair and then brushing it before straightening it so it wouldn't frizz. After dressing myself and pulling my hair up in a bun, there was a knock on my door.

"Come in," I said from my bed as I pulled on my shoes. It was Richard that came in, looking nothing but gorgeous in a simple black tux. I smiled at him before standing and fixing my dress.

"You look amazing," Richard said and I blushed before remembering that my dress had a low back so it would work while I was wearing a bra which I was at the moment.

"Excuse me for a moment," I said before back up into the bathroom. Once inside, I slipped off the straps that held the dress up and unhooked my bra, leaving it in one of the drawers in the counter. I returned after and noted that Richard enjoyed eyeing my bed.

"Ready for dinner?" Xavier asked, entering the room. He eyes fell to me right away and he was soon by my side, looking me over.

"You look good enough to eat Cutie," Xavier said, trailing his hand along my cheek.

"I'd prefer that you keep your hands and your teeth to yourself," I said, pushing his hand away.

"For now I have to," Xavier said before walking over to the door.

"It'd be rude to be late for dinner when it's your first night here so please follow me," he said before I left my room followed by Richard. Xavier led us down the same hallway we had come from, but then took a different turn towards two large doors. He opened those and then Richard and I entered to find it was the dinning hall. Most of the others were seated, but the head of the table was still empty. As we entered, Slade came in from another pair of doors wearing a black tux and a mask where half of it was black and the other half of it was black and the other half was a rusted orange color with a single brown eye visible.

"Everyone, this is Ms. Kory Anders and Mr. Richard Grayson. They are our honored guests and Ms. Anders is not to be bitten or disturbed while she is here. If anyone tries something they will be punished and if it's really that bad killed," Slade said before taking his seat at the head of the table. Xavier guided us over to four empty seats to the left of Slade. He sat closest Slade and after him was me and then Richard followed by another empty seat.

"Sorry I'm late everybody. My blow drier died on me. Can you believe that?" a woman with dark red hair, brown eyes, and a curved body said, walking over to the empty seat next to Richard. It was then that she turned to face him and gasped.

"Richard?! What are you doing here?" she asked a smile on her face.

"I'm here with Kory because Slade thought it would be funny to send a vampire dog to bite her so now we're here so she can be cured," Richard explained, his face emotionless.

"Slade you turned an innocent puppy in a blood thirsty vampire?" she asked and he nodded.

"I never would have thought of that! What an excellent idea!" she said and I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Food is here, please enjoy," Slade said and the rest of dinner went on with simple small talk. After dinner, Richard and I stood to leave and as we headed towards our rooms the woman that had come in late caught up with us.

"Richard can we talk?" she asked.

"Sure," he said.

"In private," she said, her eyes darting over to me.

"I'm sure that anything you have to say to me you can say in front of Kory too," Richard said and she sighed before continuing.

"Why are you being so cold towards me?" she asked.

"I'm not being cold Barbara, I'm just not treating you the way I used to," Richard said and I finally understood.

_"So this is the hated Barbara? I don't like her either," _I thought.

"Why won't you treat me the way you used to me? I've missed the way you used to treat me," she said.

"Exactly Barbara, I used to. If you're expecting me to see you fall in love with you again then you're wrong because I won't," Richard said and Barbara glared at me.

"It's because of her? Isn't it? You love her now? Don't you?" she asked and I looked to Richard.

"No, I just don't love you," Richard said before we turned and began to walk towards our rooms once again.

"Xavier's right you know? He treats me better than you do," Barbara said.

"Your words won't sway me and he already told me about you two so do me a favor and keep it down tonight," he said, not even bothering to turn around.

"I'm sorry you had to be there to hear that. She has this belief that even after she left me to join Xavier that I love her," Richard said.

"I don't mind," I said and I didn't mind because he didn't love her so I didn't have to worry about him leaving me, but he also didn't say that he loved me; though I really couldn't expect him to because we've only known each other for a week at the most yet we act like we've known each other for years.

"I'll see you in the morning," I said before turning to my room and Richard to his own. After stripping from my dress and hanging it back up, I let my hair fall to my back and changed into a tang top and cloth shorts. As I brushed my teeth I yawned tiredly, rubbing my eyes. Climbing into bed, I sighed happily before drifting into a peaceful slumber.

-----------------------

I woke when I heard my door open and then quietly close. I peeked my eyes open to see Richard standing at the foot of the bed. Trying to make it appear that I was still asleep, but keeping my eye on Richard at the same time, I slowly turned over and mumbled something. Richard was soon by my side, sitting in a chair he had brought over from the desk. It seemed that he was watching me sleep and when I slightly moved my head, a strand of crimson hair fell in front of my face. Smiling softly to himself, Richard brought his hand up to my face and tucked it behind my ear before softly stroking my cheek. I pretended to be asleep and dreaming while I smiled and mumbled his name. It was then that I decided to find out more of what he felt for me.

"Please don't leave me Richard," I mumbled pretending once again that I was simply talking in my sleep.

"I'll be back soon," he said before lightly kissing my forehead and leaving. Once I was sure he was gone and not coming back any time soon, I sat up in my bed and looked around. Nothing was moved except for the chair Richard had been sitting in.

_"Why was he here? Was he looking through my clothes?" _I thought, trying to pinpoint a reason as to why Richard had come into my room while I was sleeping.

_"Unless he was watching me sleep," _I thought and then smiled. If it wasn't for the fact that it was almost 3 in the morning, I would have stayed awake for Richard's return, but sleep and the soft pillow below my head called to me. I laid back down and closed my eyes, letting my body relax before being succumbed into a longing sleep.

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When I woke the next morning, I was alone in my room and the sun peeked through the clouds and shone down on my in my bed. I sat up and stretched, smiling as I did for I remembered last night when Richard had completely rejected Barbara when she claimed that he still loved her. Yup, that made me smile knowing that I could indeed have him soon.

_"Slow down there Kor, you've only known him for what? A week at the most?" _I thought and then sighed sadly.

_"If I've only known him for like a week at the most then why did he kiss my forehead last night? Maybe he did it because he thought I was asleep… so what if Richard really does want to be with me? Would it still be bad to rush to it after only knowing him for a week?" _I thought, my head swarming with multiple thoughts like this one. There was a knock on my door and I looked up just in time to see Richard walk in, a smile met my lips.

"I was just checking to see if you were awake so someone could look at your hand," he said and even though it wasn't what I truly wanted him to say, I still smiled.

"I just woke up, so in a few minutes maybe. I want to get sort of dressed," I said, getting out of my bed and standing to stretch once again. Richard's eyes followed me as I walked toward the bathroom to brush through my hair.

"Do you know if they have some kind of doctor here?" I asked while brushing the tangles out of my long hair. After I brushed it I turned on my straightener and pulled my hair back into a pony tail so I could wash my face.

"The only person I would think could be a doctor is Barbara," Richard said before there was a knock at my door.

"Could you get that Richard?" I asked while washing the soap off of my now clean face.

"Richard? What are you doing here?" Barbara asked, entering my room. I quickly dried my face and left the bathroom.

"I came here to make sure Kory was awake," he said and I smiled at her.

"Good morning Barbara," I said, trying to be nice.

"Please call me Babs, everyone calls me that," she said with a purely fake smile on her face.

"Is there anything you need Babs?" I asked, returning to the bathroom and coming back with some lotion.

"I'm just here to take you to the medic room so I can fix your hand," she said while I rubbed lotion into my legs, I could feel Richard's eyes on me.

"I'll be right out," I said before finishing putting lotion on my legs and then putting it back in the bathroom, unplugging my straightener as I did.

"Should I get dressed?" I asked, unsure if my appearance was alright.

"No, that'll do fine as long as we don't pass by Xavier; I hear he has a thing for you," Babs said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I'd prefer if he hadn't, it gets really annoying with him always following me around, calling me Cutie, and talking about having me in his bed," I said, rolling my eyes as I spoke, but not noticing how Barbara's eyes began to get darker as she angered.

"Yeah, that sure would get annoying," she said, gritting her teeth together.

"Anyway, we should probably get going," Richard said, noticing the death glare that Barbara was giving me.

"Follow me," Babs said before leaving the room, she still seemed angry. As we followed her down the hallway, it seemed that Xavier chose this time to leave his room.

"Morning Cutie, have dreams about me last night?" he asked, smirking at me while taking in my figure, undressing me with his eyes.

"If by dreams you mean ones where you're being an ass than yes," I said and he laughed.

"Still trying to deny your insane attraction towards me? You're only going to hurt yourself by fighting it Cutie, but you know where my room is," Xavier said before turning in the opposite direction and leaving us.

"He does things like that all the time, it's really annoying," I told Babs and she nodded but still didn't look at me.

"That's Xavier for you, always a flirt," she said.

"More like a pervert," Richard mumbled under his breath, but I caught it though made no comment.

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I am so sorry for such a long wait for an update! It's been almost TWENTY days!!! I didn't even realize it had been that long! Once again I'm sorry, but good news! You'll find out who the 'he' that Kory was talking about in the end of chapter 13 and in chapter 14 it will go into more depth.

Please review!

Kattie


	11. Don't Have To Be Sorry

Babs led us to the medic room where she had me sit down in a chair under a bright light. She then placed my hand in some water before drying it off and pulling out a shot.

"You'll feel stinging," she warned me before sticking the needle into my hand and injecting the clear liquid into my hand. Instead of feeling stinging, I felt a burning sensation that made me cry out in pain and clench my other fist tight. While the burning sensation continued, blood began to ooze out of the bite mark.

"It's cleaning out the cut and getting rid of the bad blood," Barbara told me while I watched in horror as the blood covered my hand and began to drip onto the floor. I looked over to Richard who was in the furthest corner from me, his fists squeezed together, and he looked tense.

"You don't have to be here Richard," I said and Babs looked up at him while I spoke.

"I'm fine," he said, looking me in the eye as he did. After staring into Richard's sapphire eyes for a good minute or so, I turned away and returned my attention to my hand. The blood flow now wasn't as fast as before and as the burning sensation creased I sighed.

"How many times do I have to do this?" I asked Barbara who was dabbing my hand with a wet cloth.

"One more time after this and then we just have to wait for the cut to close up," she said, cleaning up the blood that had dripped onto the floor.

"Sorry for bleeding all over," I said.

"It's fine, we just don't get a lot of bleeders here," Barbara said with a small laugh which I joined in on.

"Is there anything I need to do about my hand?" I asked.

"Yeah, keep it away from dogs," she laughed again and I smiled.

"Thank you," I said before standing up and walking towards the door with Richard following me.

"Are you alright?" he asked while we walked back to my room so I could finish getting dressed.

"Are you?" I asked, looking at his eyes which had darkened.

"I'll be fine," Richard said, his eyes never leaving mine. We soon reached my room and opened the door.

"You can come in if you want, I'm not going to be changing or anything," I said and he nodded. I went back into the bathroom and plugged in the straightener once again before pulling out my brush.

"What do you want to do today?" Richard asked as I straightened my hair to perfection.

"Do you know if they have a garden area?" I asked.

"Probably," he said, looking out my window.

"How about a walk through it?" I suggested.

"That'd be nice and one of these nights I can show you that club I was talking about," Richard said.

"I could use some fun, it's a date," I said before thinking. I quickly looked over at Richard who was looking at me.

"I didn't mean it like a date-date that couples go on," I said and he nodded.

"I know what you mean, besides we won't be alone. Word will spread around here and everyone will be going," Richard told me.

"Joy, a club with Xavier," I muttered while brushing through my hair once again and then unplugging my straightener.

"I can keep him off you if you want," Richard offered while I looked through my clothes.

"My own personal body guard, but only if you want," I said, pulling out a pair of hip hugger jeans and a long sleeved shirt that was lavender along with some white shoes. I kept my hair down and grabbed a light jacket before heading towards the door with Richard following me. We strolled down the halls, not really knowing where we were going but just talking. When we finally did find the outside gardens, they were huge and the sun lit up the multicolor flowers.

"Slade must have a gardener or something," Richard muttered, looking at the fountains, flowers, stone pathways, and stone benches. I laughed at this and then began walking around, enjoying the beauty.

"Can you imagine Slade coming out here on Sunday mornings with a sun hat on and having a little shovel with him along with a chart of unplanted flowers?" I asked and we both laughed. Our walk continued with talking and laughter with the occasional moment of silence until one of us brought something up again. Being with Richard in the garden, I forgot about the current situation I was in. Nothing seemed as bad anymore and people that were just passing by would surely think we'd been in a relationship for quiet some time already.

"Do you think they have a special time for lunch?" I asked when we stopped at a bench.

"I'm pretty sure dinner is the only time they actually eat together," Richard said.

"Wait, I thought vampires didn't eat. How come everyone was eating at dinner last night?" I questioned.

"We don't have to eat, but that doesn't mean we can't. It's the same with sleep, we don't have to, but if we choose to then we usually are only asleep for a few hours," Richard explained.

"Oh, so do you think they don't have food here and that they only had dinner last night because I was here?" I asked.

"Most likely, would you like to go out to eat?" Richard offered.

"I don't want to be a hassle, I can just wait until dinner," I said.

"Kory you are not a hassle, but instead I enjoy doing 'human' things with you. It reminds me of when I was human," he said.

"How long ago were you bitten?" I asked as we slowly walked towards a bench to sit. There was a fountain nearby of a naked woman pouring water out from a tall but thin pitcher. Her hair was long and flowed down her back, covering her breasts.

"At most two years ago," Richard said, watching the water.

"Do vampires age?" I asked.

"They age until, if they were a human, their body stops growing. After that you stay the same age for all eternity," he told me.

"Do you stop counting your birthdays? Do you lose meaning when you live forever?" I asked.

"I think Karen is really the only one who keeps track of her birthdays, but that was just until her 21st. I don't think she counts anymore," Richard said.

"So you eventually just forget how old you are?" I asked.

"I guess so. Personally I wouldn't know because I'm still aging," he said.

"Really? You don't look a day over twenty!" I joked and Richard smiled.

"I think I'm either 24 or 25," he said.

"Do you still remember when your birthday is?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was changed the day of my birthday," Richard said.

"When I was human still, I was in a relationship with Barbara which is why she claims I still love her even after two years of not seeing her. I'm pretty sure it was my 22 birthday, January 3, and we were out to celebrate with a group of friends at a club; not the one I'd be taking you to. Anyway so as the night went on, we were soon leaving at 2 in the morning and Barbara and I were walking back to the car which was parked halfway down the block because it was a popular place. We were about to reach the car when someone or something came out of the shadows. Before I knew what was happening, it had Barbara so I was running down the street following them. They finally stopped in an ally way where when I got there, it had already bitten her and was sucking her dry while looking up at me with its black eyes. I backed away in fear and as I did, it dropped Barbara to the ground and moved towards me. I felt its teeth puncturing my skin and a burning feeling where if I wasn't in shock I would have screamed in pain from. After that I blacked out and woke in a forest with Barbara a few feet away from me. I went to reach for her, but found no strength so I simply lay there. Soon I began to hear voices and when I opened my eyes again Slade, though I didn't know that was his name at the time, was taking away Barbara while Bruce took me," Richard said.

"Xavier said that he bit Babs, does that mean he turned you as well?" I asked after listening to his story.

"Yeah he did and for a while he held it over me, claiming that he was stronger. So I went out and trained with Bruce so I would be stronger than him and so that I could get my revenge on him for taking Barbara from me. Turns out I'm better off without her," he said.

"After we were bitten, Barbara came to me a month or two later and I was so happy because I thought I would never see her again. She began telling me of how much she had missed me and how much she loved me and before I could return the words Xavier came. He asked if Barbara was still wasting her time with me and then I wasn't exactly strong yet so when I went to hit him he knocked me to the ground in the blink of an eye. Xavier called Barbara his baby and told her to come back with him and she did," Richard continued while I watched his face, waiting for it to change to hurt, but it never did. His expression stayed the same the whole time.

"We met again after this one more where she told me once again that she had missed me and that she loved me. When I asked her what kind of relationship she had with Xavier she lied and said that they were just friends, but rarely spoke. I believed her because I still thought she was my world. I took her back to my place and we made love. The next morning I asked her to stay with me, saying that I couldn't last without her. It was then that Xavier decided to come back again. _'I leave you for a day and you go and sleep with him,' _he said, surprisingly calm. Him and Barbara argued for a while and then I finally yelled at them to tell me what was going on. Xavier looked at me and laughed before looking back at Barbara who wouldn't meet his gaze. _'I guess she didn't tell you then, did she? Babs is mine now Grayson, she loves me, not you.' _As he spoke those words my eyes darted over to Barbara who was crying. _'Tell me he's lying,' _I said in barely a whisper because I was suddenly weak. When she didn't answer I clenched my fists together tightly and glared at her. _'Get out,' _I said, pointing towards the door. She gave me a pleading look but then I yelled it and both her and Xavier were gone. I hadn't seen her since then," Richard finished his story.

"After all that she believes you still love her?" I asked in disbelief after rethinking what he had just told me.

"You were there last night, so yes," Richard said.

"What a heartless bitch," I said.

"Why are you so mad at her?" he asked.

"It wasn't by choice that she was taken by Slade, but it was by choice that she fell for Xavier. Even though she was with Xavier she still came back to you though and slept with you. If she's not a heartless bitch than she's a whore," I told him.

"That is true though I choose not to use such words, but still why are you mad at her?" Richard asked.

"You may not think it Richard, but I care about you and she did something to you that hurt you at the time," I said.

"I don't hurt anymore," he said.

"I know, but it still angers me to know that you once did," I said, staring into his eyes. Before Richard could reply, I pressed my lips to his in a kiss I'd been longing for. Soon my arms were wrapped around his neck and his around my waist, holding me tightly against his well built chest. When air was needed, I broke the kiss and stared into Richard's eyes that had brightened instead of darkened. Before he could say anything, I pressed my lips to his once again, but this kiss was softer. It wasn't as longing as the first one had been, but indeed softer. As we pulled away this time, my hands were resting on either side of Richard's head and my chest was pressed tightly against his.

"You don't have to be sorry," I whispered into his ear before standing and walking back towards my room.

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And they kiss again, but it's still not a love confession! Please review!

Kattie


	12. Not Afraid

As they days went on Richard and I stayed clear away from each other. It was awkward whenever we were near each other, like at dinner, and I hated it. I missed being with him and it was killing me to be away from him.

_"Let him make the first move. Don't seem desperate," _I kept telling myself, but as it neared three days of not speaking to each other, I began to think otherwise. I began to think that maybe it was best to go to him, so he knew that I was serious about this.

_"Though if I approach him will he think I love him?" _I thought and I knew that I didn't love him. It was too early to declare love on Richard, but I did have strong feelings for them. One of them being lust because it was impossible not to lust for him. I wanted to dig my finger nails into his back while we fucked, but I also wanted it to be more than just a fuck, I wanted it to be love. This brings me to my second feeling: confusion. I was confused if the main feeling I felt for Richard was lust or love. My third and final strong feeling was love. Could I love him? Can I trust that Richard will love me back or will I just be a prize? If it doesn't work out for us could I go back to just being 'friends' with him? Or would it be too hard? I guess my third and second feeling kind of mix together because they're all question, but they do say that third time's a charm.

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At the next dinner, while I was sitting next to Richard in silence, my eyes kept wandering to Slade who just sat and watched the rest of us eat. I needed some form of advice and I couldn't trust anyone here. I looked around the table and most of the figures, though dressed nicely, did not look like the right kind of people to go for relationship advice for. There was a girl with pink hair who I guessed to be Jinx because she seemed to be the only one I could picture her as. I wouldn't go to her because she seemed troubled all on her own, no need to add my troubles to it. The other majority of the group was male and there was no way in hell I would go to them for advice. There was a blonde who was trying to hold down her moans as she was fingered under the table, by I'm guessing the one next to her kissing along her neck and giving her small love bites. I didn't really feel like interrupting those two for some advice. The last female of the group was Babs and it would be insane for me to go to her for advice on love especially when it had to do with Richard since they had a history. So my only hope was Slade. After dinner and Slade rose to leave, I followed him, trying to keep up with his quick strides.

"Slade?" I asked and he turned to me, his single eye staring at me.

"Yes Ms. Anders?" Slade asked, his arms crossed behind his back.

"Is there a way for me to call back to the others? I'm having some uh, 'boy' troubles and I need to talk to someone," I said, blushing.

"Dear lord I should have known something like this would come up," he muttered under his breath.

"If there isn't then I guess I could try to survive on my own, but I really don't see that happening," I said.

"Follow me, I have a phone," Slade said and I smiled brightly.

"Thank you," I said quietly before following him. He stopped at a room that had just a couch and a window in it along with a phone on a desk in the middle.

"Don't fall asleep in here Ms. Anders," Slade said before leaving me alone. Next to the phone was a single piece of paper labeled as 'Bruce'. I dialed the number and waited for someone to answer.

"I hope this isn't a call telling me that Kory is dead Slade," Bruce answered the phone.

"No, this is she speaking," I said.

"Kory? Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Could I please talk to Karen?" I asked. There was silence and I began to fear he had hung up.

"Alright girl, tell me what the problem is," Karen said and I sighed in relief.

"It's me and Richard," I said nervously.

"Is he being an asshole because if he is tell him I'm coming over there to kick his ass," she said.

"No it's not that, we kissed," I said quietly and Karen gasped.

"No way?!" she yelled.

"Twice," I told her.

"So then what's the problem? I know you two have the hots for eachother," Karen said and I could imagine her winking as she spoke.

"We haven't been talking," I said and before she could say anything I added,

"The first time we kissed was before we left for here and he said he was sorry so we ended up getting in a fight but then it ended in him telling me how much a simple kiss tempted him towards me. The second time we kissed I told him before that I didn't like it when he hurt and before I left him I told him that he didn't need to be sorry. That was the last time we've spoken to eachother."

"Ah, so it this kind of trouble. Well Kory, you need to fix this. Do you have any chance to get him alone?" Karen asked.

"Richard did say something about a club and taking me to this fun one," I told her.

"Perfect, you can wear your fun clothes! Try to get to that club as soon as possible," she said.

"What do I do once we are there?" I asked.

"For one: get him to notice you. If Richard doesn't notice you then there is no way this will work," Karen told me.

"That won't be a problem," I said, remembering how I could always feel his eyes on me.

"Second: you need to get a chance to dance with him. Kor how good of a dancer are you?" she asked.

"Good enough to make a guy almost lose it in his pants and good enough to get a one night stand," I said.

"Damn girl, you are a slut!" Karen joked.

"How far do you expect me to get with Richard?" I asked.

"If you sleep with him it'd be great," she said.

"I've known him for like a week! Sleeping with him this soon is like out of the picture!" I exclaimed.

"Fine, but I know you have feelings for him and in that kind of way too," Karen said.

"I know I do, but I don't want to rush things. I rushed things once and it didn't turn out too well. Besides, I don't want to rush Richard into anything if he doesn't want it" I said, my thoughts trailing back to **him.**

"Well you guys need to get on good terms again because you two make a cute couple!" she yelled.

"Alright, I'll try," I said and we exchanged our good byes before I hung up. I leaned my head back against the couch to rethink everything before standing up and leaving the room.

"Look what we have here Johnny. It looks like she's lost," someone said from behind me and I froze.

"I think you scarred her Fang," the one I'm guessing was Johnny said.

"It will just make taking her easier," Fang said.

"No, I get her, you have Kitten," Johnny said.

"Oh yeah she told me to meet her at her room," Fang said before I felt a slight breeze.

"It's just you and me now," Johnny said before spinning me around and pushing me against the wall.

"Please let me go," I whimpered as he looked me over.

"I don't think I will because it isn't fair that Grayson gets you all to himself," Johnny said before kissing me roughly. I began to cry as he bruised my lips from the force of the kiss. He tried to get me to open my mouth but I wouldn't so he grabbed my arm and squeezed it until I cried out in pain giving him enough time to slip his tongue into my mouth. Johnny pushed me harder against the wall as he continued to feel around my mouth with his tongue. I bit down on his tongue forcing him to pull away from my mouth and yelp in pain.

"Worthless bitch!" Johnny yelled before slapping me and I fell to the ground, the tears pouring faster now. As I cried, he grabbed me by my arm and yanked me back up to my feet before crushing me against the wall again.

"You're going to pay for that," Johnny said, raising his hand to slap me again. I closed my eyes, waiting for the stinging to happen again, but instead all I felt was a small breeze and then there was a loud thump on the ground. Opening my eyes, I saw Johnny pinned to the ground by Richard who was busy punching at his face. When he stood he kicked Johnny in the gut and spat on him before turning to him, his knuckles bleeding.

"Are you alright?" Richard asked, his eyes almost black. I looked from him, to his bleeding hands, and then to Johnny who laid curled up in a ball on the ground before shaking my head; silently telling him no. The tears began to pour again and I sank to the floor, unable to find the strength to keep standing. Richard was at my side in a second and scooped me up in his arms while I continued to sob. He ran quickly back to my room and I was soon sitting on my bed while Richard held me.

"It's alright Kory, he won't hurt you again," he said and I clung to him, soaking his shirt.

"T-thank you," I managed to make out between sobs.

"You don't have to thank me Kory, he was going to-" but Richard never finished the sentence.

"I'm sorry you got hurt," I said and he looked at me puzzled before holding up his bleeding hand.

"It's nothing compared to what he did to you," Richard said, but I shook my head in disagreement.

"I'll clean it up," I said, wiping away my tears and standing from my bed.

"Change first so you can sleep," he told me and I looked through my drawers as he rose to leave.

"You don't have to go Richard, I don't mind that you're here," I said and he stopped before nodding and sitting back down on the bed.

"Could you help me?" I asked, unable to reach the zipper on the back of my dress. Richard stood from the bed and slowly unzipped it. When it was fully unzipped he returned to the bed and I simply let the dress fall from my body as I turned back to Richard. As I stood before him in only my lace bra and panties, Richard's eyes never left mine but I could tell that they were brighter like when he had kissed. I pulled on a lose fitting t-shirt and then a pair of shorts. From underneath the shirt I unhooked my bra and then pulled it off and placed it in my dirty clothes hamper. While Richard's eyes stayed on me, I went to the bathroom and wet a towel before returning and sitting on the bed next to him.

"Give me your hand," I said and he did. I gently pressed the wet towel to his hand and then began to dab up with blood which I found that most of it wasn't his. When I finished with Richard's first hand, I took his other and did the same until all I could see on them were small cuts and bruises. After that I returned the towel to the bathroom before coming back and sitting next to Richard.

"Stay with me tonight?" I asked him, looking up into his eyes.

"If that's what you want," Richard said and I nodded before pulling him back towards the bed with me. I slid myself under the sheets and then patted the spot next to me where he soon joined me. I turned to face Richard so that I was on my side to find him staring back at me. I leaned my head forward and kissed him, closing the small gap between us. The kiss was short and we parted quickly, but then I kissed Richard again and this time it was more heated. Wanting to be closer to him, I rolled to the side so that I was now straddling his waist and continued kissing him. This time when we broke the kiss we were both breathing heavily.

"Are you sure?" Richard asked, his voice husky.

"I'm not afraid to love you anymore," was all I said before pressing my lips once more to his passionately.

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So I'm sure you all know where that went from there and I'm sure that you're all very happy!! I am too! And I know that the 'him' guy would come up in like this chapter, but instead he will come up in the next chapter for sure. Please review!

Kattie


	13. Never Thought I'd See You Again

The next morning when I woke, I knew that I was the luckiest girl in the world. Cradling my naked body was a pair of strong arms and I knew that the arms belonged to Richard. Just that thought, that I now lay naked in his arms because the previous night we had made love, put butterflies in my stomach. I turned so that I was now facing Richard and let my finger trail along his well built chest and stomach while I looked up into his passionate sapphire eyes. 

"Good morning," Richard said quietly while stroking my crimson hair. I smiled up at him before kissing his lips lightly. Pulling away, I could feel the smile creeping up onto my lips and I decided to let it show.

"Why are you so happy?" Richard asked, raising his eyebrow which just made him look all the more sexy.

"Because I'm with the person I love," I said, laying my head on his chest. I went to listen for a heart beat, but could only hear my own echoing in my ears.

"That would be a pretty good reason," he said before pulling me tight against his chest and kissing my neck.

"We should probably get dressed," I said, sad that I had to kill the moment, but I was afraid that in any minute either Xavier or Barbara would walk in. Richard sighed before letting go of my waist so I could slip out of bed and walk over to my closet. As I dressed, I felt a warm breeze and knew that Richard was gone. By the time I had finish getting dressed, I felt cold breeze and knew that Xavier was now in my room.

"Leave Xavier," I said, not bother to face him while I brushed my hair.

"Is that any way to talk to me after you two kept me up all night?" he asked, walking over to me.

"You don't need to sleep," I stated.

"I still didn't enjoy hearing you two most of the night," Xavier said, picking up my brush and twirling it in his fingers.

"Get ear plugs," I said, taking back my brush and continuing to brush through my hair.

"Why would I get those? It was only a one night thing," he said.

"You're gonna want ear plugs because it wasn't just a one night thing," I said and as I spoke my thoughts drifted back to him. Quickly shaking my head, I rid myself of those thoughts.

"Oh, I get it! You think he loves you!" Xavier said and he laughed.

"Do I have reason to believe he doesn't?" I asked.

"I saw Johnny this morning and he looked pretty bad. Maybe he slept with you out of pity or maybe it was because of your body," he said, undressing me with his eyes. 

"Shut up Xavier, you know nothing about any feelings," I spat.

"Exactly, I'm a heartless vampire. What makes you think Richard is any better?" Xavier asked.

"I simply know he is," I said, fighting his words in an attempt to not let them get to me.

"Has he said those words yet?" he asked, running one of his cool fingers along my neck.

"Don't touch me," I said.

"You didn't answer the question yet Cutie," Xavier reminded me even though I didn't need reminding. I couldn't forget what he asked even if I wanted to simply because I knew the answer and the answer was 'no'.

"No, he hasn't," I mumbled.

"There you have it, he's just like the rest of us," Xavier said.

"But that doesn't me he won't! It just simply takes time to realize it! I haven't it either! Sew us if we aren't exactly sure of our feelings!" I yelled.

"Are you saying then that you two are just friends with benefits? Because I could give you many more benefits that he ever could," Xavier purred into my ear and I shivered. 

"We're not 'friends with benefits'," I said, unmoving.

"Then what are you two exactly, sure can't call you lovers," he said, one of his hands now stroking my cheek.

"I'm not sure, but that doesn't make us friends with benefits," I said, finally pulling away from his cold touch.

"Leave her alone Xavier," Richard said and I sighed with relief, knowing that I didn't have to answer any more of Xavier's questions.

"Then tell me this Richard: what can I call you two if not friends with benefits or lovers?" he asked, turning his attention away from me and towards Richard instead.

"Leave now Xavier," Richard hissed and a sly smirk came across Xavier's face.

"You see Cutie; he can't answer the question either. I'll see you both later," he said before in a cold breeze, he was gone.

"You heard everything, didn't you?" I asked, looking at Richard through the mirror in the bathroom. I watched him nod his head and I decided that this wasn't something we should talk to each other about through a mirror. When I went over to him and was about to speak, he cut me off.

"Come on, I bet you're hungry," Richard said before taking my hand and beginning to lead me out of my room and towards the kitchen. On our way we bumped into Johnny.

"Well what do we have here? If it isn't that whore from last night," he spat and I felt Richard's grip on my hand tighten as he grew angry.

"Did you run into something because that black eye sure makes it seem like that," I said in reply and Johnny's hands balled up into fists.

"You should just be happy you have your precious Richard here to protect you," he said.

"Or what?" I asked.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Johnny said and I couldn't help but shiver at the thought.

"Leave her alone Johnny," Richard growled, tired of just watching us talk and deciding to intervene.

"We have you out numbered Grayson and even though you're stronger than most of us alone doesn't mean you can take on all of us at the same time. If you tried, you'd fail and we'd torture and rape her right in front of you; just so you can hear her scream and us laugh," Johnny said and once again I shivered.

"If you lay even a finger on Kory," Richard threatened.

"Don't worry Grayson, I'll give you some time to fall in love and then I'll do it just so it's all the better," Johnny said before vanishing in a breeze.

"Richard," I whispered and he looked down at me, his eyes darker.

"It's alright Kory, I won't let him touch you," he said and with a light kiss, he continued to lead me towards the kitchen.

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Once again I sat in the small room with a couch, window, desk, and a phone. After breakfast, which was french toast, I made my way back to that room so I could talk to Karen once again. Something told me she would want to know about this.

"Karen I slept with Richard," I told her.

"Oh my god!" she screamed and I held the phone away from my ear.

"What happened to, 'I've only known him for a week! Sleeping with him is way out of the picture!'?" Karen then asked.

"Well, after I finished talking with you on the phone I left the room and began searching for my own only to run into Johnny along the way and he tried to rape me. Richard came back to my room after saving me from Johnny and we kinda just went from there," I said, blushing.

"So?" she asked.

"So what?" I asked.

"What was it like? I mean seriously! You slept with the legendary Richard Grayson, used to be playboy and kick ass vampire! It must have been good," Karen said and my blush grew.

"Your really wanna know?" I asked.

"Duh!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my God! It was amazing! The best thing I've ever done! Seriously I've had others and they've been good, but doing it with Richard was like wow! Words can't even describe," I said.

"Yes they can, so start describing! If it wasn't for the fact that he's younger than me and I already have a man, I'd be trying to get in his pants too," Karen giggled.

"Fine I will, but I'm warning you that things will get hot," I said.

"It's not like I have virgin ears or anything, so just tell me!" Karen cried.

"First thrust and I nearly came," I stated.

"That's all you're going to tell me?" she asked.

"His kisses were passionate and soft at times, but at other times they were lustful. His fingers loved to wander and he wasn't rough with my body, treated me like I was a piece of glass art that would break with even the slightest pressure. His tongue does wonders and that was one kiss I will never forget," I told her.

"Not as descriptive as I would have liked, but that was hot! Damn girl! You got it good last night," Karen said.

"Tell me about it. I just wish there was some way to repay him. Like the whole time it seemed as if he only worried about making me happy and satisfied," I said.

"Didn't Richard mention something about a club? You could always repay him there," Karen suggested.

"That is an excellent idea Karen! I'll go tell him. Bye," I said before hanging up and leaving the room, this time making it back to my own without running into anyone.

"Richard?" I asked, knocking on his door. 

"Hey Kor," Richard said from behind me.

"Where were you?" I asked, surprised that he wasn't in his room.

"I went for a walk," he said.

"Oh, well you know how you mentioned going to a club one of these nights?" I asked. 

"Yeah."

"How about we go tonight? I'm dying to see how I look in some of the clothes Karen got me," I said, winking at him.

"I am too," Xavier whispered from next to me and I jumped away from him and into Richard.

"Don't do that Red, you know Kory doesn't like it," Richard stated.

"I couldn't resist and tonight sounds like fun, I'll tell the others. Be ready at nine," Xavier said before leaving us.

"Great, the others are coming too," I mumbled.

"Of course, they were bound to come anyway," Richard said.

"Well, now that Xavier's gone, we have some time to ourselves before I have to get ready," I said, my fingers tracing his chest through his shirt. 

"You sure you'll have enough time because we might be at this for a while," Richard said, kissing along my neck.

"I honestly don't care," I moaned before he picked me up and carried me into his room.

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It was nearing the time for us to leave for the club and boy was I ready. After spending nearly an hour just picking out what to wear, Karen got me a lot of 'fun' clothes, I had decided on a gold sleeveless dress with a low v-neck that ended at mid-thigh and was skin tight along with a pair of gold stilettos. My makeup was a deep red color along with a clear gloss to make them shine. I had gold eye shadow with some red just above that. Finally I left my hair down, but put it in curls. 

_"Karen would be proud," _I thought to myself before spraying some light perfume and leaving my room.

"Looking as fuck-able as ever Cutie," Xavier said, looking me over. I rolled my eyes and waited for Richard to come out of his room which he did.

"Grayson," Xavier said with a glare.

"Red," Richard said, his glare matching Xavier's.

"Come on Richard, we should get going," I said, taking hold of his hand and trying my best to pull him away though it wasn't easy since he was like 20 times stronger than me. Eventually Richard followed me with Xavier following as well.

"You look lovely," he whispered into my ear and a blush crept onto my cheeks while I smiled at him. 

"Thank you," I said quietly before we reached the cars. In the end, everyone else heard about our little outing and decided to come too so they were all outside already waiting by their rides. I, of course, road with Richard who was the one to lead the way towards the club. When we finally reached the club, I sighed upon seeing how long the line to get in was.

"Don't worry, there's another way in," Richard reassured me before we stepped out of the cars. Already the air smelt of alcohol and various drugs. 

"Lead the way," I said, taking his hand as Richard walked towards the side of the building. 

"Hold on," he said, wrapping his arm around my waist before jumping up so we landed on the top of the roof. 

"This is your other way in?" I asked while fixing my dress and hair.

"Would you rather wait in line?" Richard asked while the others jumped up too.

"No, just wondering how we're gonna get in without being noticed," I said and was then led towards a door.

"Oh," I said, feeling a little silly for not noticing.

"Don't worry, it's not every night that you enter a club through the roof," Richard said before loud music started pounding in our ears as we entered the main club area. Right away everyone branched off to either get something to drink or to dance.

_"Now this is my kind of setting," _I thought to myself before heading towards the bar. Man did I need a drink right now. After living with vampires for a bit more than a week, it was beginning to take it's toll on my sanity and I had the urge to get hammered. Richard followed me to the bar as I ordered the strongest drink the place had, not even sure what it was called. 

"Kory!" I heard someone yell my name as I sipped at my drink which was indeed very strong. I looked around until I spotted a head of blonde hair and bright blue watering eyes.

"Terra?" I asked, nearly dropping my drink.

"Oh my god! Kory!" my friend yelled before running forward and hugging me tightly. I looked a little taken back at first before I finally put my drink down and hugged her back.

"Where have you been?" Terra asked, wiping away her tears while she stood in front of me. I was still shocked and couldn't find my voice so I was relieved when Richard spoke for me.

"You must be the friend Kor was talking about. She felt so bad about leaving without telling you, but I told her that it would be out little get away without any interruptions," he said. Terra quickly looked at Richard and then to me before a sly grin graced her pink lips.

"Who's this Kory?" she asked, though I was still too shocked to answer. Instead I just picked up my drink and began to chug it while Richard once again answered for me.

"I'm Kory's boyfriend, Richard," he said, actually at Terra.

"You have a boyfriend and never told me?" she asked, glaring at me now.

"I wasn't sure if you'd approve after everything that happened with **him**," I lied, knowing full well that she would have been happy I found someone else.

"What's there not to approve of? He's gorgeous!" Terra exclaimed. 

"Well you know now," I said, taking another sip of my drink.

"Everyone was so worried about you. The police went to your house and said that someone had broken in and stole your car, but they just ended up running it off the bridge. The police were ready to say that you were dead," Terra said.

"Oh, that's horrible, but I was with Richard right after work so there's nothing to worry about. I'm fine, I swear," I said, though I really knew that I wasn't all that fine. Sure I was happy to be with Richard but I still had Slade after me, Xavier after me, Barbara jealous of me, and almost everyone after my blood which I enjoyed in my body and not in their mouths. 

"I'm so glad you're alright, but Kory I have to tell you something," Terra said, but before I could let her finish the song changed and my eyes lit up with excitement.

"I love this song! You have to come dance with me Terra!" I cried before taking hold of her hand and dragging her towards the dance floor. Our bodies began to rock against each other to the beat of the music and half way through the song, I felt her body leave mine, but ignored it when a male body replaced it. Thinking it was Richard, I began to grind my bottom against his crotch and dance a little dirtier. 

"I've missed your body Kory," the man whispered into my ear and my body froze. Right away I knew who it was and my breath caught in my throat though I still managed to make out in a hoarse gasp,

"Roy."

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I was gonna wait longer to update, but I just **HAD** to post this chapter! Hope you like it and the next chapter will be full of good stuff!

Please review!

Kattie


	14. Mistake

**Recap:**

"_I've missed your body Kory," the man whispered into my ear and my body froze. Right away I knew who it was and my breath caught in my throat though I still managed to make out in a hoarse gasp,_

_"Roy."_

My head began to spin as all of my thoughts of him came rushing back. Tears threatened to fall when memories of all the pain caused by him came back ten fold.

"I haven't seen you in a while Kory," Roy purred, still holding me close to him even though we had stopped dancing.

"Let me go Roy," I chocked out, still trying to hold back my tears.

"Why would I let go of a pretty little thing like you? Come on Kor, let me take you back to my place," he said and then began to guide me through the crowded dance floor. Too numb to do anything else, I just followed him, my eyes still wide. In the distance I saw Terra and called out to her.

"Terra!" I yelled again when she didn't hear me the first time, though she still didn't look over at me.

"No Terra tonight, just you and me Kory; just like old times," Roy said before he pressed his lips to mine aggressively. Right away my conscious broke out telling me to push away from him, but my body reacted to his kiss, and not in the way I wanted it to. My mind screamed out in protest as I wrapped my arms around Roy's neck, pulling him closer to me, and deepening the kiss when I opened my mouth for him. His tongue darted into my mouth and began to explore ever in of it, and I let out an involuntary moan. We pulled apart for air and I stared up into his brown eyes, still trying to wrap my mind around what had just happened.

"I need you now Kory," Roy said before pulling me into another lustful kiss. As we kissed, he slowly drug me towards the bathroom. Once in there, Roy locked the door since it was just one large bathroom area, and pushed me up against the wall. When I moaned once again because of his trailing kisses down my neck, I felt my heart give a lurch and I knew it was because I was betraying Richard.

"Wait Roy," I breathed out, but his kisses never stopped.

"Do you love him?" Roy asked, already knowing why I had told him to stop. The question caught me off guard and I had to pause to think about it which was just enough time for him to kiss me once again. This kiss had more passion in it than lust, and I felt my old feeling of love for Roy begin to rise to the surface again. My mind went blank of all common sense and I just let him do as he pleased. Within minutes of our make out session, Roy's shirt was off and on the ground with my dress riding up so it barely covered the bottom of my ass.

"Roy," I moaned when he began to trail kisses on my exposed cleavage. I pulled his head back up and kissed him once again on the lips while my fingers worked at unbuttoning his pants. As I began to pull them down, Roy unzipped my dress causing it to fall to the floor so I was left in only my skimpy thong.

"God you're beautiful," Roy said, his voice husky with lust. Before I knew it, he was in me and I moaned. My body began to fill up with pleasure as the thrusts became quicker and my breath quickened. I cried out his name when I came, and as I did, I knew that what I had done was wrong. Once Roy had pulled out of me, he began to pull back on his clothes.

"Come back with me to my place Kory, I've missed you," he offered and I hurriedly pulled back on my clothes.

"No I can't. This was wrong Roy, so wrong. I can't see you again," I said, tears streaming down my face as I pulled away from him. Now that everything was over, I realized just how much I did love Richard. The tears began to fall faster when it hit me that Richard would hate me now. There was no way he didn't know about this and I had ruined any, and all chances I had had with him.

"You can just dump the guy," Roy said, looking rather impatient.

"I love him Roy and I can't just dump him," I said.

"He'll find out and then he'll leave you," he said as I unlocked the bathroom door.

"It's better than going back to you," I said before throwing open the door and leaving the bathroom. I was still crying so many people looked at me as I walked by them.

_"Where do I go now? There's no way I can face Richard, at least not yet," _I thought as I walked blindly through the club. It was then that I caught a glimpse of blond hair and knew exactly where I could go. Following the blond head of hair, I soon found my friend Terra dancing with a rather good looking guy.

"Oh god Kory! What's wrong?" she asked, pulling away from the man's grip. I felt bad about having to ruin her night with my troubles, but I really needed the help.

"I ran into Roy," I whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

"Don't worry, I'll go find Richard for you," Terra said, but I stopped her.

"No," I said and I knew right away what had happened.

"Come on, I'll sneak you out the back to my car," she said and I nodded before following her. On the way out, I caught sight of Richard sitting at the bar, looking rather pissed off. Our eyes met for a second before I looked away.

"I'll take her home Terra," Richard said, already next to us.

"I'm sorry Richard. You seem like a good guy and all, but she's had way too much to drink to be going home with you," Terra said, lying for me.

"I'll take her home," Richard said, glaring at her.

"No you won't. Now back up before I beat your ass!" Terra yelled before I felt Richard's hand on my wrist. He pulled me to him with such force that the wind was knocked out of me and I began to gasp for air.

"Is there a problem here?" a tall muscular man asked. He looked to be one of the security men that worked here to make sure fights didn't happen.

"Yeah, he's trying to take her home with him and she's had too much to drink so I'm trying to take her back to my house with me," Terra said, glaring at Richard.

"I'm her boyfriend," Richard said while I began to regain my breath.

"That doesn't make it any better. Now Sir I'm going to ask you once to let go of the girl before I'm forced to take her from you," the tall man threatened.

"You couldn't even lay a finger on me," Richard hissed before the man lunged forwards only to be knocked to the ground unconscious.

"Oh my god! Somebody call the police!" I heard Terra scream before there was a cold breeze and I knew that Xavier was there now.

"Great Richard, only here for an hour and you get in a fight," he said before there was a gust of cold air on my face and I looked around to find that I was outside.

"What happened?" Barbara asked, looking at me worriedly once she saw the tears.

"We just need to get back," Richard said, ignoring the question. I wince upon hearing the tone of his voice and I think Barbara saw it.

"I'll drive her back. Xavier, ride with Richard," she said before taking me from Richard. Never in my life had I been so happy to know Babs.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked as we began to drive back towards the house.

"God I feel like such a whore right now," I sobbed, not caring if she listened or not. I just wanted to get this out.

"I fucked him Barbara, I fucked Roy," I practically screamed and I'm sure that all of the others heard me even though they were in different cars.

"I never wanted to see him again! I just wanted to forget everything that revolved around him, but it'd be like forgetting a part of my self! He kissed me and then I followed him to the bathroom and let him take me! I just let him have his way with me even after everything he's done to me! Will I forever be haunted with the image of his face because I loved him? Because a part of me still loves him?!" I cried. All while I was speaking, Barbara was looking out my window and I had a feeling that the car next to ours was Richard and that he was staring at me. I may not be a vampire, but I could still feel his eyes on me.

"I don't blame Richard for hating me or never wanting to look at me again. And if he does look at me it should be only with disgust and hatred in his eyes because I'm a disgusting filthy whore," I whispered, feeling my heart tear into millions of pieces as I spoke. The car was silent and it felt as if a thick blanket of silence had fallen over all of Earth to the point where it was so quiet, it was beginning to get loud. I didn't mind the silence though, because I knew that they all heard what I had to say and now I didn't have to have them coming up to me and asking what happened. Now I could just lock myself up in my room and completely ignore everyone and everything.

When the car finally stopped, my door was opened in the blink of an eye and Richard was standing in front of me.

"Move," I said, standing so that our bodies were almost pressed up against each other. My gaze was on the floor, since I refused to look him in the eye, and I was able to see his whitened knuckles from squeezing them closed in his rage.

"I want an explanation," Richard spoke. His voice was usually powerful and strong, but now it sounded pained and weak.

"Please move," I repeated.

"Not until I get more than two words out of you," he said.

"Please move, Richard," I said, though when I got to 'Richard' I seemed to choke on my breath of air and it came out as a hoarse whisper. Finally I decided that it'd be best to look at him, and when I did our eyes met. I could see my own eyes in his: hurt, confused, pleading, hope that what had happened didn't really. I saw it all and it made another wave of guilt crash down on me as tears fell once again from my now dull emerald eyes. Richard razed his hand slowly to wipe away my new tears, but stopped when I pulled away from him. His hand stayed out stretched towards me, but it never did touch me.

"I'm sorry you had to get pulled into all of my problems Richard. If I had my way, we never would have met," I said before pushing past him and towards my current home. When I walked inside, I could feel pairs of eyes on me, in fact, I could **see** the people those eyes belonged to as they stood and stared at me.

"I'm sorry for ruining your night," I said quietly, before continuing towards my room. When I reached it, I left my hand on the door knob, but couldn't find the strength to open it. Instead I dropped my hand to my side and just slid down the door. Then when I started shaking and I knew I was almost alone, I just sobbed. Nobody ever came to see if I was alright and I was greatful for that. I didn't want them to come and see me, so I just stayed there against my door and cried.

Kind of a short chapter, but I think it was a good one. Please review!

Kattie


	15. Comfort From An Unlikely Source

For the rest of the night, I stayed outside my door silently crying. I couldn't find the strength to get up and go into my room because too many memories were held in there. And I sure as hell wasn't going to go wandering around since I knew that **somebody** would eventually find me and chances were that they wouldn't be a good person. So I just stayed out side my room, staring at Richard's door. I knew he wasn't in there, but the room still taunted me. It was somewhere I could never enter again because I knew that any bond that Richard and I had had was no gone.

_"Why'd he have to be there? Out of all nights Roy could have been at the stupid club, he had to be there the same night I was," _I thought, what happened between us in the bathroom flashing through my mind. All I wanted was for it all to stop. I wanted all of my feelings for Roy, and now even Richard too, to vanish so that I could be left an empty shell. No feelings, just there to be used as a tool for vampires.

_"That's all I really am, a tool. Soon, one side of the vampires will have me and turn me into one of them. Then I'd just be something for them to use for their bidding. Wither that be get rid of the enemy vampires, or take over the world. I'd just be a tool," _I thought and the truth was that I was fine with that idea. I was tired of the pain and guilt from all of the stupid things I'd done, so if I just became an emotionless tool, I would never have to feel again. All I'd have to do was what they told me to.

"There's no point in beating yourself up about it."

"Go away Xavier, I'm really not in the mood for you," I said quietly, looking away from where I knew he was standing.

"So you're sometimes in the mood for me? Next time that is, tell me and I'll be sure to use it to my advantage," he said and I rolled my eyes.

"Can't you just leave me alone for once? Don't you see that I want to be alone?" I asked, tears pricking at my eyes.

_"Alone, I'll always be alone."_

"You may want to be alone, but I can tell that that's not what you need. What you need is someone to talk to," Xavier said, sitting down with his back against the wall next to me.

"What are you, the expert on feelings? The only feeling I thought you knew was lust," I said, looking down at my hands.

"I'm not expert, but I know enough to know that bottling it up inside yourself isn't going to help. You'll feel better if you talk about it, trust me," Xavier said, his tone gentle, caring, and even concerned. No longer feeling the will to ignore my feelings, I broke down into sobs.

"I screwed it all up Xavier," I cried, jumping when I felt his cold hand on my hand.

"It was just a mistake, we all make them," Xavier said, his normally cold voice soothing.

"It was more than a mistake though. I fucked my ex-boyfriend while having a current one, in a bathroom at a club! How can you say that's only a _mistake_?" I asked, realizing just how shitty of a thing I had done when I spoke it out loud.

"So you made a big mistake, you can't let that ruin your life. I made a million mistakes while I was still a mortal. I still do make mistakes, but don't care about them. I've learned to get over them, as you should. Maybe you and Richard won't get together and live happily ever after; that was never going to happen from the beginning because he's a vampire. But you shouldn't let it ruin your life. It's clear that you had some strong feelings for Roy," I winced at his name, "so it only natural that you have a strong reaction when you see him again," Xavier said and my tears began to slow.

"Why do you even care? I thought the only reason you liked me was because I had a pretty face and nice body," I muttered quietly.

"I'm not all good looks Cutie. And even though my heart doesn't beat anymore, that doesn't mean I don't have one," he said and I smiled softly, looking up to meet his gaze.

"See if you were like this more, I might actually consider liking you; as a friend," I said, causing him to chuckle.

"You're good looking Cutie, but not good enough for me to change my ways. For al you know, the only reason I'm doing this is so that I have a better chance of getting you in bed," Xavier said, smirking at me. I glared at him before taking in a deep breath.

"I probably should get some sleep," I said, yawning as my exhaustion caught up with me.

"Are you gonna be okay alone?" Xavier asked, I thought about it more a minute before slowly shaking my head.

"Want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?" he then offered. At first I was reluctant to say yes, but the thought of being alone made me say yes. Xavier stood first and then pulled me to my feet before opening the door to my bedroom. It felt weird, having Xavier in my room with me. Usually if he was in there, somebody else was there too. Now it was just him and I and even though I knew that nothing was going to happen, it didn't stop the uneasy feeling I had.

"I'll give you some privacy to get changed," Xavier said, walking over to a chair and sitting down in it. I went over to my dresser and took out a t-shirt that was too big for me and a pair of shorts. Then I made my way towards the bathroom where I changed, brushed my hair and teeth, before returning. Just as I had left him, Xavier was still sitting down on the chair with his gaze on the bed.

"Don't even think about it," I said sternly. The last thing I needed was to have guilt from sleeping with Xavier to add to my other guilt.

"I wasn't thinking that, just jealous of Richard. He did what I couldn't," he said.

"What's that?" I asked while sitting down on my bed.

"He actually made it with you," Xavier told me.

"Yeah, too bad all I did was screw it up," I mumbled.

"You've got to stop thinking like that. It isn't doing anything good for you health," Xavier said sternly.

"My health is fine. I'm still breathing and walking, aren't I?" I said, a small smile on my face while I pulled the sheets up around me. Sleep was slowly coming to me, and I welcomed it with open arms. I heard Xavier rise from his seat in the chair, but didn't think much of it.

_"He's probably just leaving," _I thought sleepily.

"Night Cutie," Xavier whispered before kissing my forehead. There was a cold breeze before I knew that I was once again alone in my room.

"Goodnight Xavier," I whispered before finally being succumbed into sleep.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**I know that the chapter was short, but I just needed to get something up. If you've read chapter 7 of **Being With You Only Brings the Tears** then you should know that I am going on a cruise over spring break so I won't have much time to update.**

**The next update may come in as long as three weeks. I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do about it since I'm also swamped with a project for social studies.**

**Please review all the same and thank you for the reviews for the last chapter! I enjoy hearing your thoughts about my work.**

**Kattie**


	16. Need To Talk

When I woke the next morning, I could have had a heart attack from what I saw. There was Richard, sitting in a chair hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees, and his fingers laced just below his nose. He looked like he was in deep thought and when I took in a deep breath to calm my heart; his piercing eyes were on me.

For what seemed like an eternity, we just stared at each other. The air was thick, I felt suffocated, and it seemed that the walls of my room were closing in around me.

_"Come on Kory, snap out of it," _I kept thinking to myself until I was finally able to turn away from him and slowly get out of my bed. Once I felt my feet on the floor, I took a step towards the bathroom door. As soon as I had moved, I felt a warm breeze before Richard was standing right in front of me.

"We need to talk Kory," he said, and my breath caught in my throat.

"What is there to talk about? I'm a whore who can't get over her feelings for a past boyfriend, and you shouldn't have to deal with me. I'm sorry about what I did. I wish I could go back in time and change it all, but I can't. So all I can do is live with my feelings of guilt, anger, and depression because I know that there's no chance of me being with you again. Even if you wanted that, I wouldn't allow it because of everything I've done to you," I babbled out. By the time I was done talking, I was well out of breath and tearing up.

"You're not a whore Kory," Richard said. It seemed that out of everything I had just said to him, the only thing he cared about was that I had called myself a whore.

"Yes I am Richard!"

It hurt me to say his name.

"I fucked my ex-boyfriend in the bathroom of a club!"

The pain came again. The pain of what I did to him. The pain of everything Roy had put me through. The pain that I brought upon myself by letting Roy kiss me. The pain that I know I've put Richard through.

"You had feeling for him still. I can't get mad at you for loving someone Kory."

He did it again, said my name. It didn't matter how Richard said my name, it still effected me. He could say it in a loving manor and my heart would melt. Say it in a dangerous manor, I'd freeze up. Say it in a husky manor and my heart would do back flips. Say it in a mad manor, my heart would break. No matter how he said it, I always felt it.

"Yes you can! I want you to hate me!"

I knew that that was a lie. If Richard were to really hate me, I'd probably kill myself because it'd seem that my life had no purpose.

"I could never hate you Kory. Why would you want me to hate you anyway?"

There, he said that he would never hate me. Now I can go on living, but now the pain would never go away.

"I want you to hate me so that it's easier for me to realize that it's over. Realize that we're over and can never be again. At least that way I know I'm being punished for what I've done instead of it being looked over so easily," I said, tears now coming from my hurt emerald eyes like rivers.

_"I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you Richard," _I thought. I wanted to tell him that, but I couldn't find my voice. All I could do was cry, and I was afraid that if I tried to speak, I'd just choke.

_"Please hate me Richard. I don't deserve anything else but hate from you. I don't deserve you're love," _thoughts like these kept running around in my hurting head. Yes, my head now hurt from all of the thoughts running around in it.

"Kory, I could never hate you. I'm sorry I'm not making things easier on you, but I can't hate you," Richard said and I felt my heart skip a beat in joy.

"Richard who's to say something like this won't happen again?" I asked, knowing that that was my worse fear.

"The only other person I've ever loved besides you is Barbara and I'm well over her. And we don't have to worry about something happening with Roy again because if he is near you, you won't be alone. I'd be with you the whole time," he said and once again I felt my heart skip a beat.

_"He said it, he said that he loved me," _I thought. Sure he said it in a bit of a hidden way, but I had still heard it and it made the room begin to spin.

"We can't get together again Richard," I said quietly, knowing that it was the sad truth.

"Why not?" Richard asked. There was a tone to his voice, almost desperation.

_"He's trying everything he can just to make us work," _I thought and the room's spinning came to a halt, but now all I could see was him. Even if I tried to turn away from him, I could still see him.

"I don't deserve you Richard. You don't deserve to have to deal with all of my shit. So in a way we both don't deserve each other," I told him.

"I don't care what I have to deal with Kory, I'm willing to try," Richard said. At that moment I felt as if I was going to faint.

_"Just woke up, haven't had anything to eat or drink, and now I'm having this conversation with Richard. I'll be surprised if I don't pass out by the time we're done talking," _I thought, feeling the dizziness wash over me again along with the light headedness.

"How can you even look at me knowing what I did? How can you even stand to be near me after I've had Roy inside me? I can barely even stand being me, so how can you stand it?" I asked. Once again the room had stopped spinning, probably because Richard wasn't talking, but now I felt waves of disgust wash over me.

"I can look at you because no matter what you do, I'll always see you as beautiful. I know that Roy was able to _touch_ you, but I also know that it was a drunken thing. When people are drunk, they tend to get very emotional. You're no exception, especially when seeing your ex-boyfriend that you gave your virginity to," he explained and once again the tears began.

"There's nothing I can say that will change your mind, is there?" I asked, trying to hold back my tears.

"Nothing you could say would change my mind about loving you," Richard said before leaning forward and pressing his lips to mine. It was then that I finally let the tears fall and poured all of my heart and soul into that one kiss. I gave everything that I had to give into that kiss. The kiss was pure bliss and it felt that everything was right again, and that nothing had ever even gone wrong. Even though Richard didn't have a beating heart, I could still sense that he was pouring his emotions into the kiss. Finally the urge to breathe came and I had to pull away from the kiss. When I did pull away, I finally began to sob and clung to Richard.

"It's okay Kory. I'm here and I'm never going to leave you alone again," he whispered into my ear and I began to cry more.

"Stop crying Kor, everything's fine now," Richard said, not seeming to understand why I kept crying.

"I c-can't s-stop-p cr-rying," I sobbed out.

"Why not?" he asked. Slowly I pulled away from Richard and smiled up at him.

"I'm happy Richard. Sometimes people cry when they're happy," I told him before laughing.

"First the crying and now this?" Richard asked, but I just kept laughing.

_"Maybe I'll be able to fix things." _

**--**

**Sorry for the chapter being so short, but I wanted to get an update out. The cruise was fantabulous! I had a wonderful spring break and I hope that my wonderful readers had a wonderful break as well. As much as I'd love to stay and just chat away, I have to go and begin to write chapter 8 of **Being With You Only Brings The Tears**. **

**Please review!**

**Kattie**

**P.S. in your review, guess my age. I want to see how old my readers think I am by my writing style. **


	17. Healed But Broken

That day was spent with Richard and me walking through the gardens hand-in-hand talking and laughing. We acted as if nothing had ever happened and for the time being, I was fine with that. I was fine pretending that everything was alright even though I had betrayed Richard.

_"He forgave me and that's all that matters," _I kept thinking, but still couldn't stop beating myself up about what I done with Roy at the club.

_"Terra must be ripping her hair out going crazy trying to find me,"_ I thought and suddenly stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" Richard asked, noticing my sudden stop.

"I totally forgot about Terra! She must be going completely insane because she doesn't know what happened to me!" I yelled, my breath quickening.

"We could go visit her after we make sure it's okay with Bruce if you think it'll help," he offered.

"Oh that would be so good. I can't even begin to imagine how worried she is about me right now," I said, feeling calmer with the thought of being able to see her again.

"How's your bite from the dog by the way? It's really the only reason why we're even here," Richard asked and then I suddenly thought of that.

_"I can't believe that I've completely forgot why I was even here in the first place," _I thought and then looked down at my hand. The only remaining show that I had even been bit were two small white scar-like bite marks.

"Its fine, which means that we could probably leave tomorrow morning to head back to the others," I said, a smile spread across my face. It would be so nice to be finally out of this place and head back to a place where I didn't have to worry about being rapped if I get lost.

"Good, the sooner you're away from Xavier the better," Richard said as we began to walk again, though this time back towards Slade's home.

"I could say the same thing about Barbara," I countered.

"That's different," he claimed.

"How? The only difference is that you were once with Barbara where I've never been with Xavier."

"Either way, I just don't trust him and his perverted mind. I'll feel better once you're away from him."

"Yeah, away from him and in your bed," I said, a small smile on my face while I held back my giggles.

"You know that's not the only reason why I love you."

"But you don't deny that it is one of the reasons," I said before we stopped walking underneath a tree that was shading us from the sun. Richard turned towards me and slowly came closer to me while I backed up until I my back was pressed against the tree. Now I couldn't move any further away and Richard just kept coming closer until we were flush up against each other.

"What can I say? I am only a guy after all, human or not," he whispered, his voice husky and a **major** turn on. All of my being itched for Richard's touch and when I wasn't able to take it any longer, I leaned forward not even an inch and met his lips in a blissful kiss. What started out as innocent, I quickly turned into a hungry kiss. I needed all of him and he seemed to understand that when I wrapped my legs around his hips and begged entrance into his mouth. We were soon in a heated make out session, but were interrupted by someone loudly coughing.

"Glad to see you guys back together and everything, but Slade wanted me to check on your bite," Barbara said, though I knew that that was a lie. Not even bothering to unwrap my legs from Richard, I held out the hand with the bite on it. I hoped that Barbara could tell that I wanted her gone by the way I looked at her.

"I need to examine it in the medic room. Sorry but you'll have to detach yourself from Richard," she said, glaring at me through her smile. I glared at her in return while releasing Richard, but still held his hand. Barbara slowly led us through the gardens and we soon reached the back door to the house like ten minutes later.

"Could we hurry this up, you kinda interrupted something," I said, annoyed with Ms. Fake taking her precious little time.

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot how much you love fucking people. Maybe you should have gone into the bathroom, wouldn't have found you there," Barbara spat and I knew that she was referring to what happened between Roy and me at the club.

"Fucking bitch!" I yelled, grabbing hold of her hair and pulling it so that she was closer to me. Still holding onto her hair, I pulled back my other hand balled up as a fist and sent it straight into her pretty little face. Before I could land another punch on her, Richard had me in his arms and was dragging me away from the bitch. Though I refused to let go of her hair, so Richard pulled from away quickly and some of it ripped out.

"Not so pretty now, are you?!" I yelled at her, still fighting against Richard's grip. Barbara slowly turned to me and her eyes were a pitch black so I knew that I had pissed her off. As she came to run towards me, Richard grabbed her arm and twisted it painfully behind her back. The hallway was silent except for my heavy breathing and Barbara hissing in pain. Once my breathing had calmed and Barbara was still, Richard slowly released both of us, but stayed in between us.

"Take us to the medical room Babs," he said after she was done fixing her hair, or at least _trying _to fix her hair.

"I don't trust her. She'll probably just _accidentally _cut one of my arteries and watch me bleed to death," I said, glaring at her while we continued walking.

"Nothing is going to happen because you two won't be alone together. I'll be there the whole time," Richard said, taking hold of my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. I smiled up at him, my face clear and unharmed, much unlike what Barbara looked like.

"Damn! What the hell happened to you?" Xavier asked, stepping out of his room and spotting her face. I smiled innocently at him while she glared at me.

"Cutie did that? I didn't think she could pack a punch but damn!" Xavier laughed. Barbara was now glaring at him.

"Will you just shut up," she hissed at him.

"What's wrong Babs? Mad because a mere mortal messed up your face. You should be thanking me actually because now that you have all of those bruises, you have an excuse as to why you're so ugly," I said, smirking at her.

"You're just lucky that your precious boy toy was there to protect you. If he hadn't been there, you'd be dead by now," she spat.

"No need to be jealous because he doesn't love you," I said and once again she ran at me. Before I could feel her impact, Richard had his arms wrapped around me and quickly pulled me out of the way. Barbara stopped right before she hit the wall, but before she could run at me again, Richard had her trapped between the wall and his foot which was applying pressure to her neck.

"Why'd you have to stop that Grayson? It could have turned into an extremely hot cat fight," Xavier said causing Richard to shoot a glare at him.

"The fighting ends now. Just take us to the medical room, check out her hand, and then we'll leave you alone," Richard said sternly, leaving no room for arguing. Slowly, he lowered his leg so that Barbara was released. She glared at me once more before turning away and walking down the hallway again. Richard followed her while pulling me along.

"You must have said something pretty bad to get her going," Xavier said and we soon started talking about how Barbara and I had gotten into the fight.

"Just go sit down over there," Barbara said, pointing to a padded table-like bed once we were inside the medical room. While I went to lay down, Richard and Xavier stood by. Barbara came back over to me and I held out my hand for her to inspect.

"Looks like the bite is all healed. Just go talk to Slade and he'll tell you when you can leave," she finally concluded, putting my hand down.

"I'll take Cutie there, I wanna hear more about that fight," Xavier offered. I was hoping that Richard would be the one to take me, but it'd be rude to tell Xavier no.

"I'll be right back Richard," I said before following Xavier out of the room and towards where Slade would be.

"So who do you think would have won if Richard wasn't there?" Xavier asked.

"Well her duh, but that's just because she's a vampire. If we met on the streets and she wasn't a freaky vampire, no offense," I said, looking over at him.

"None taken," Xavier interjected.

"I would have kicked her ass," I then finished.

"Honestly I never thought that you were the fighting type. You always posed to be some innocent, untouched goddess."

"It's okay Xavier, I understand that you don't like me anymore because of this," I told him, hoping that he may have suddenly dropped his lust for me. Fat chance though.

"Not at all. Now I know that you can hold your own, but can be a lover as well as a fighter. Before, if we were to have sex, I'd be gentle, and treat you as if you were a fragile doll. The whole act would be innocent as if a secret meeting. Now if we were to have sex, I would have to hold back as much and it could be all the more exiting. It would be dirty, biting, in front of everyone sex. Either way we'd have damn good sex. So I think this new side of you a whole new turn on," Xavier explained and I was left rather speechless.

"How is it that the only time you ever put any depth into something, it's always related to sex or blood?" I asked him, though I couldn't help but think back to what he said and feel a tingle of pleasure from the could be.

"There's more to me than sex and blood, you just haven't bothered to look," he said and once again I was found without words.

"Maybe because anytime I do try to talk to you, you always bring up you and me having sex. At times it can be a slight turn on, at others, it's just annoying and perverted," I told him, finding my words again.

"That's because whenever we are alone together, there isn't enough time to talk about my complexity."

"You know Xavier, I judged you, and for that I'm sorry. I just thought you to be some dirty pervert that just wanted me for a sex partner, but now I see that there is in fact more to you," I said, smiling at him.

"Forgiven, but don't think this changes me still wanting to fuck your brains out," he said, smirking while his eyes ran over my body. Though normally I would have been angered by this, instead I laughed.

"Leave it to you to ruin a good conversation by bring up sex," I said, still lightly laughing when we finally reached Slade's room.

"I'll wait out here so I can take you back," Xavier said and I nodded to him before entering the room.

"Uh, Slade?" I asked, looking around the room. The only source of light was from a small lamp on a desk with the chair in front of the desk turned away from me.

"Barbara tells me your bite is healed," Slade said, turning around in the chair so that he was now facing me.

"Yeah, I just came here because she said you'd tell me when Richard and I could leave," I said, taking a step closer.

"So ready to leave?" he asked.

"Not meaning to be rude, but yes. I don't like as many of the people here, though you have been very kind," I said, being sure to choose my words carefully.

"Very well, you'll be able to leave tomorrow morning at sunrise," Slade said before turning around again in the chair so that he was no longer facing me.

"Thank you for your hospitality," I said before leaving.

"Xavier?" I asked, not seeing him in the hallway.

"Behind you Cutie," he said after I felt a cold breeze.

"So I get to leave tomorrow morning at sunrise," I informed him while we walked back towards the medical room.

"That still leaves me enough time to do _half_ the things I want to do to you if we were to stay up all night. All I need is your okay," Xavier said and a shiver ran down my spine.

"As _inviting _as that sounds, I'm with Richard. I couldn't betray him again," I said and before I knew it, Xavier had me pressed up against the wall.

"Break up with him then," he said, staring into my emerald eyes with his bright gold ones.

"I love him Xavier," I breathed out, feeling at a loss of breath with him so close to me.

"Maybe so, but you and I both know that you love the thoughts of what _I _could do to _you_," Xavier said and it was true. I did like the thoughts of what he could do to me, but I knew that that's all our relationship would ever be; just sex. With Richard, I had the chance for a relationship with love. That and it wasn't like our sex wasn't good, it's some of best sex ever!

"I do hold dear to those thoughts," I started, tilting my head as Xavier began to trail kisses along my neck, "but I love Richard."

"If you really truly loved him, you would have stopped me by now," he said before his lips were on mine in a passionate kiss.

_"Passion: the one thing I thought he lacked," _I thought before I gave into the kiss. All of my body screamed for him, most of my mind screamed that he was the whole package, while the rest of my mind said that I would be better off with Richard. Just when I was about ready to start ripping his clothes off, Xavier pulled away from me and I took in deep breaths.

"Just think about it Cutie," he whispered huskily to me before turning and walking down the hall towards the medical room. I was frozen against the wall in shock for a few moments before cautiously following him. Cautiously because I wasn't sure if I really did want him or not and I didn't want to give myself the chance to get him. Soon we reached the medical room and I put a smile on my face so Richard didn't have to worry about my confused state.

"Good news Ric-"

I froze.

This couldn't be happening.

It had to be some kind of sick joke.

All I wanted was for what I was seeing to be a lie.

It wasn't, and I knew that when they didn't stop even as I stood there.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**I think that that is like the BEST cliff hanger I have EVER left at the end of a chapter. It would be even better if I decided to end the story, right here, but I'm not gonna do that. I'll be nice and just make you have to deal with a cliff hanger instead of both. **

**Um, I'm VERY happy with this chapter and hope that the rest of you are just as much pleased. Have to cut this short now because I'm going to go work on chapter 18 which should hopefully be out in about a week.**

**Please review.**

**Kattie**


	18. Planning This

"Make it stop," I whispered, tears falling from my eyes.

"You don't deserve to have to see this Cutie. I'll take you far away from here," Xavier offered, taking hold of my shaking hand. Right now, his offer sounded like the best thing ever and I was going to take him up on it, I just wanted to make sure Richard saw my pain first.

"I thought that we could have been a good couple," I said, no longer speaking in a whisper so that they finally noticed me. The look on Richard's face was one of hurt and betrayal while his hands were on my hand that was holding Xavier's.

_"That's all he cares about. Me holding Xavier's hand," _I thought, knowing now that everything he had ever said to me was just a big fat lie.

"Kory," he said, barely a whisper. I was hurt by the sound of him saying my name.

"How could you? I know that what I did with Roy wasn't any better, but at least alcohol was involved! What's your excuse Richard?!" I yelled, feeling my rage consume me.

"His excuse. It's that _he_ loves _me_. Jealous Kory?" Barbara asked, a smug smirk on her face.

"You can have him _Babs_. You won," I said, before turning away from them.

"Kory wait! She forced me-" Richard started running after me. I stopped him though, when I quickly turned around and punched him in the jaw.

"Forced you?! It didn't look like she was forcing anything! You were loving it just as much as she was! You had her pressed up against the wall and her leg wrapped around you! I'm sure the only thing holding her up was you holding her hands above her! If I had been any longer you two probably would have started fucking on damn table!" I yelled at him, my hand throbbing from the punch. It was probably broken, but I didn't care right now. The throbbing was soon numbed as my whole body when numb.

"We can leave Kory," Xavier offered, giving my hand a small squeeze.

"Please," I said barely above a whisper before I was in his arms.

"Where are you taking her?" Richard asked.

"Away from you," Xavier said before all I felt was the wind. Any tears that I cried dried as soon as they left my eyes as I clung to Xavier. His arms were wrapped protectively around my while I had my hands fisted in his shirt and face turned into his chest.

"I'm gonna have to speed up because he's following us," Xavier warned me before the wind became more intense and we were now making turns instead of going in a straight line.

"Let her go Xavier!" I heard Richard yell.

"She doesn't want to be near you Richard! Maybe _you_ should let her go," Xavier yelled back, their voices not as loud because of the wind.

"How do you know what she wants?" Richard asked.

"Please Richard, just leave me alone," I said and then there was silence.

"He went back," Xavier informed me a few minutes later when we began to slow down.

"Probably went back to be with Barbara," I spat, new tears forming just from the thought.

"Just try not to think about it. Where do you wanna go?"

"Home. Please take me home," I whispered. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of my house and felt tears well up. Sure it had only been a little over a week, maybe not even, but I felt like I had been away from it for years. Slowly I walked up the path to my house and went to my door only to find it locked. Frustrated tears began to overspill at the thought of not even being able to get into my own home. Quickly Xavier was at my side and had the door opened so that I could enter. I gave him a small smile before entering my home and finding it clean. For that, I was glad because I hadn't wanted to come home and find it still covered in my pet's blood.

I then began to wander around my house, looking at everything as if I had never seen the pictures before. There were pictures of my friend and me out partying, pictures of my parents, pictures from last Christmas, from my birthday, and even a picture of Roy and I. Once I found that picture, I picked it up and threw it across the room so that the glass frame shattered into pieces as it hit the wall. Tears were once again falling rapidly, but I still didn't care. I went to reach for another picture so that I could throw that one as well, but a cold hand stopped me.

"Don't Kory," Xavier whispered before taking my hand in his and leading me up the stairs. I knew where we were headed, it was my bedroom and right now that sounded good. I needed to sleep and hopefully by doing so, some of the stress would wash away. Upon entering my room, I was met with a few more pictures, some of them of Roy and I, which I wanted to throw across the room. Before I could even reach for them, Xavier had them off the shelves and hidden away somewhere. He had done this so quickly that I didn't have a chance to see where he had hidden them.

"It isn't the right way to fix this. Just get some rest," Xavier whispered to me before picking me up and carrying me over to the bed where he pulled back the sheets before tucking me in under them.

"Stay with me please," I said hoarsely as he turned to leave.

"I'll be back in a minute," he told me before he was gone. That minute alone was like a whole day alone. Everything was quiet and seemed _ghostly_. I didn't want to be here anymore, at least not when alone, but just as he had promised, Xavier was back within what I guessed to be a minute.

"See, I told you I'd be back," he said, a sly smirk on his face. I only stared at him, not really sure how to reply.

"You're just gonna leave once I'm asleep, aren't you?" I finally asked the question that had been on my mind.

"Nah, I'll stay just to make sure no one tries to get in here," Xavier said, walking over to my window sill and sitting down on it.

"You promise?"

"I promise, now go to sleep," he said and I did as told. Or at least tried. Half an hour later I was still lying in my bed unable to sleep. Finally I turned over in the bed so that I was once again facing Xavier.

"I can't sleep," I said, as if it wasn't already obvious.

"I'll just close the blinds then," he said and did so that the room was now darker.

"I don't think that's gonna help," I mumbled, though knew that he had heard me.

"Then what will help? I can't help unless you tell me how to," Xavier said softly and the tears began once again. I felt stupid for crying over nothing, but my emotions were spiraling out of control and it felt good to let some of my bottled up emotions out.

"I feel betrayed, and hurt, and alone. I feel so alone. Even with you in the same room, I still feel so alone," I sobbed, tucking my knees up and holding them while I rocked.

"I hate being alone. Even as a kid I never liked it and how I feel it and I hate it," I cried before feeling a crease in my bed. Slowly I looked up from teary eyes to see Xavier sitting on the edge of the bed, watching me with a pained expression.

"You're not alone Kory," he said softly and before I could even think about what I was doing, I lunged forward and clung to him. Xavier was stiff at first, but then finally I felt him relax and return the embrace. Once again I was crying, and I wasn't quiet sure why. I didn't know if it was from Richard betraying me, still grieving over what happened at the club, or just happy that I wasn't alone because being alone was one of my biggest fears.

"Get some sleep Kory," Xavier said softly, slowly pulling away from the warm embrace. He wiped away the trails from my tears before slowly lying me back down on the bed.

"Stay by my side," I begged him quietly when he moved as if about to stand. Xavier looked back at me before removing his shoes, shirt, and then sliding into the bed next to me.

"Thank you Xavier," I said quietly while curling up next to him. Even though he was normally cold, the fresh human blood pumping through his veins made him warm.

"Your welcome, now sleep," Xavier said, wrapping his arm protectively around me. I closed my eyes before finally allowing myself to be succumbed into sleep.

**0000000000000000000**

The next morning, I woke with a cold chill covering my body. At first I couldn't remember where I was, or why it was so cold, but then things came back and I knew that I was in my house, and the cold was coming from the body lying next to me. I looked over at Xavier and found that he was still fast asleep with his arm wrapped around me. Softly, I smiled because I was glad that he was here with me, but then remembered what had happened with Richard and Barbara. A frown quickly replaced my smile, but I tried not to think about it. Instead, I decided that use this time to study Xavier.

Never before had I really _looked_ at Xavier. Sure I knew that he had a hansom face and wasn't scrawny, but that was about all I knew about him. I turned on my side so that we were facing each other and looked to his face first.

With his eyes closed, I could see his eye lashes, which he must have gotten from his mother because they were longer than most males' but not as full as most females'. Even though his eyes were closed, I still imagined Xavier with his bright golden eyes staring back at me and I realized just how deep of a stare he could have with those eyes. My gaze then traveled down to his lips and when they got there, I could help but think back to our kiss.

_"I had been so ready to fuck him right there in that hallway all from one kiss," _I thought, staring at his soft lips. Xavier did in fact, have very soft lips, and even when asleep, they were desirable. Quickly I looked away from his face and found that I had forgotten about his hair. Even at a young age, I had always had a thing for guys and nice hair, but I'd have to say that it was between Richard and Xavier who had the best hair. I had touched Richard's hair once before while in a heated kiss, but at the time I was more focused on the kiss than his hair, so I couldn't quiet say how his was. Slowly, I brought my hand towards his hair until I had grasped a small piece of it. His hair was soft to the touch and without any damage.

After I had finished inspecting Xavier's hair, I brought my hand down to his chest where I began to trace his muscles. He was about as built as Richard, but I could see a few more rippling muscles on him than on Richard. I continued to trace his muscles until I reached his belly button where I traced the trail of hair. As my finger came closer to his jeans, I felt the muscles clench under my touch and saw his body shrink away from my hand.

"Would have loved for you to have continued, but I'm ticklish," I heard Xavier said and I quickly gasped before looking up at him. Xavier was lying with his head propped up on his hand while watching me closely, a smug smirk on his lips. A deep blush came over my face as I realized that he'd probably been awake for a while.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked, still blushing and refusing to look him in the eye.

"Before you even woke up," he said, and my blush only grew deeper.

"I'm sorry for doing that," I mumbled, looking down at my hand which was tracing circles in my bed sheets. Suddenly it felt _weird _lying next to him in my bed, even if we both were still clothed.

"There's no need to be sorry. You and I both know how I feel about you," Xavier told me and we fell silent. The silence was becoming rather awkward, rather quickly, but that all ended when I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. From the moment my lips touched his, I knew that I was making a mistake, but yet couldn't stop myself from leaning into the kiss. My arms wrapped around his neck while pulling him closer to me so that Xavier was soon practically lying on top of me. Our mouths never left the other's as our kisses became hungrier and our hands roamed each other's bodies. Once again, I found one hand wrapped up in Xavier's soft hair while the other traced the muscles on his chest and stomach. I felt his hands slide underneath the overly large t-shirt I had thrown on last night, but didn't mind. His cold hands against my skin sent shivers of pleasure up my spine.

I gasped when I felt him press up against me. Once our lips were separated for that split second, Xavier moved his mouth down along my neck. His kisses were gentle, but as they got closer to the veins in my neck, I felt the kisses become more forceful. Then, I felt little nibbles that sent shivers throughout my body.

"Xavier," I gasped when his hands left my stomach and reached up to grab my breasts. As he fondled my chest, his kisses left my neck and went up to my earlobe, which he then began to nibble on as well. Already, I was practically in some sick, pleasurable heaven, but when I felt Xavier roll his hips against mine, it just got a whole lot better.

_"Maybe I should have taken him up on his offer a long time ago," _I thought before arching my back while moaning while his magical hands tortured me.

"Somebody's coming," Xavier said, stilling his motions.

"Then let them come," I whispered greedily into his ear.

"Normally I would, but they're coming fast, too fast," he said, and before I knew it, Xavier had picked me up and we were running.

"Why are we running?" I asked over the howling winds.

"Richard is coming for you," he told me.

"I really don't want to see him still," I said, and Xavier nodded before beginning to run faster.

"Xavier, give Kory to me," Richard said. I looked to my left to see that he was now running next to us.

"She doesn't wanna see you Grayson," Xavier told him as I looked away. It was true, I didn't want to see him, but that was only because I was afraid he would know that I had almost slept with Xavier if he did.

"Kory! He's trying to kidnap you! They've been planning this from the very beginning!" Richard yelled to me, ignoring Xavier. It was after I thought about Richard's words, that I realized that he may be telling the truth.

"Xavier stop, I need to talk to him," I told the man holding me.

"Sorry Cutie, but I can't do that. Not right now at least. Once the others get here, I'll be able to put you down," Xavier told me, looking back at something.

"Why can't you put me down now?" I asked, beginning to think that Richard's words were making more and more sense.

"Well I couldn't have you running off with Richard because then he'd take you back to Bruce, and Slade wouldn't be very happy if that happened. After all, we've been trying to hard to get you into our grasp, and now that we have you, I'm not gonna take any chances of losing you," he said and I gasped.

_"He's kidnapping me!" _

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Yes, he's kidnapping you. Sorry for the wait for an update, but it was a pretty long chapter, so that should count for something.**

Being With You Only Brings The Tears **will hopefully be updated in the next couple of days, and please review!**

**Kattie**


	19. My Fault

I really do hate it when I suddenly felt a rush of panic, and stupidity at the same time. So it would only make since that while Xavier was carrying me, I felt that way.

_"How could I have been so stupid, and blind, to have not seen this coming?!" _I thought angrily before a wave of sorrow came over me.

"You lied to me this whole time, haven't you Xavier?" I asked him, my eyes staring out at the blurs that rushed by.

"What would I gain from lying? Everything I've told you has been the truth," Xavier said, and I realized that he was telling the truth. Never once had he spoke of loving me, just simply lusting for me. Stupidly, I had twisted that around to make myself believe that he loved me and that I possibly loved him. It's truly amazing, if not annoying, how the mind works.

"Let me go Xavier," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking with panic.

"I can't do that Cutie. The only way you'd get me to let go, is if you're going into the hands of Slade," he said and a shiver of fear ran up my spine.

"Please let me go," now the panic was really setting in. Xavier didn't say anything back and my breath began to quicken.

"I never asked for any of this! Let me go!" I screamed, tears forming in my eyes.

"I'll get you away from him Kory," I heard Richard yell to me, but it didn't comfort me much. My mind was still racing a mile a minute thinking of what was going to happen next. Before I could grasp one of the millions of options, I suddenly felt myself being knocked to the left when Richard rammed into Xavier.

"What the hell are you doing?! I'll fall!" I yelled at him, holding onto Xavier for dear life.

"Don't worry Kory, I won't let you get hurt," Richard said, and his words had actually calmed me before I went flying into the air. A scream of terror rose from my lungs until the wind was knocked out of me when I hit something hard.

"Richard," I gasped, out of breath. He had caught me and with a quick smile, Richard went running off as fast as he could away from Xavier. Let me just say that Xavier is not **nearly **as fast as Richard is.

"Where are we going?" I asked after I had regained normal breathing a few minutes later.

"Back to my place," he said before I grew silent once again.

_"He'll have to eventually find out about what happened with Xavier," _I thought and my eyes began to water. If he hadn't hated me before, I was sure that Richard would hate me now. Not only that, but what about what had happed with Barbara? We sure had some things to talk about.

"Richard, we need to talk," I whispered, knowing that I didn't need to be loud because he would hear me anyway.

"About what?" he asked.

"About us," I said before Richard fell silent.

"Not now, when you're safe we can talk. Right now I have to worry about getting you away from Xavier," he said before I finally let the silence between us stay silent. When Richard came to a stop from his inhuman fast running, we were standing in front of the mansion where Bruce was standing waiting for us.

"No need to worry, you're safe now Kory," he said as Richard set me down on the ground. It took me a while to regain my balance, but even once I had, I still collapsed to the ground in tears. Both of the men looked at me oddly, not sure what to do with a crying woman.

"Men, they are such idiots when it comes to emotions," Karen said, now standing next to me. I was glad to see her because she seemed to be the most human out of all of them.

"Come on girl, I'll take you to go see Raven so that she can check on you. After that, I'll let you get some rest," Karen said before helping me to my feet. She practically had to drag me down the halls towards Raven's room because I couldn't seem to stop crying.

"Raven, Kory needs some help," Karen said, knocking on her door. There was a pause before the door opened and we were allowed in. Just as I had suspected, Raven's room was covered with the dark colors of blue, purple, and black. All along her walls were bookshelves that were overflowing with books.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked, gesturing to Karen to sit me down on her bed while I was still trying to calm my crying.

"I'm not really sure. You'd have to ask Richard to really find out, but I wanted you to make sure she wasn't hurt or anything," Karen said, sitting down next to me.

"Just try to stay still even if this makes you feel uncomfortable," Raven told me and I gave her a nod before her hands were surrounded with black magic. The moment her hands touched mine, my body went into a spasm where the one thing I wanted to do _was _move.

_"Don't move, I can't move," _I thought to myself. It felt as if my whole body had fallen asleep and now it was being stabbed with needles all over. Luckily, the feeling was soon gone when Raven pulled away from me.

"She's fine physically, though mentally she's a little unstable as of now," she told Karen who nodded.

"Thanks Raven. Do you want me to take her back to her to her room now?" Karen asked, standing up.

"No, but bring Richard here please," Raven said before Karen was gone. A moment later, Richard was standing in the doorway.

"You needed me Raven?" he asked, remaining where he stood.

"Yeah I need to talk to you about Kory," she said and my eyes darted up to meet his icy blue ones.

"It'd probably be best if we talked outside in private. Kory, stay here," Raven said before leaving the room with Richard.

_"Raven could probably tell that I was about to sleep with Xavier since my hormones are still out of control. That means that she's probably tell Richard and he'll hate me," _I thought, wrapping my arms around my knees which I had tucked up in front of me. From my spot on the bed, I couldn't even hear the normal whispers that could normally be over heard from any _human _conversation. All that I could over hear was silence until there was the sound of something breaking, probably the wall. I winced at this sound of more breaking things along with several curse words.

"Just don't hurt her Richard, because you hurt her," was the only thing I could hear from Raven before the door opened.

"You'll be able to find your way to your room, right?" Raven asked as she entered her room. I nodded before standing from her bed.

"He's out feeding right now, I'm not sure when he'll be back," she told me, as if reading my mind and answering my unvoiced question. Once again, I nodded before leaving her room and heading towards my own. When I finally got to my room, it seemed too quiet, but I ignored that and tired to go to sleep.

"You still want to talk?" I asked, knowing that Richard was in my room. He was standing in the hallway where my room met my bathroom and the only reason I knew he was there was because I had seen him out of the corner of my eye when I entered the room. Had I not seen him, I would have never known he was there because he was silent.

"What's there to really talk about, Raven told me everything," Richard said. He sounded angry.

"Did she tell you what I thought about everything, or just what she found out?" I asked, my back to him as I lay on my bed facing the large window.

"She told me all that I needed to know." His voice was cold and harsh.

"Then you probably hate me because you know that I almost slept with Xavier," I whispered, earning a low growl from him.

"You knew what you were doing to us the minute you let him take you away from me Kory, so don't you dare try and pin this on me!" Richard yelled and I flinched.

"How can you say that all of this mess is my fault?! What about what happened with you and Barbara?! Did you honestly think I forgot about how you two had your hands all over each other like lovers finally reunited?!" I yelled back at him, finally turning to face him while sitting up. Tears were threatening to fall, but I held them back because now was _not _the time to show him how much sorrow I was truly feeling. All that I wanted Richard to feel from me was my hate for him.

"I already tried to explain that to you, but you just ran off with your precious Xavier!" he yelled back and I couldn't help but laugh.

"What was there to explain?! You two were about to have sex against the wall and I ruined it for you! Well you know what?! I'm sorry I ruined your fuck! Next time I won't worry about it and I'll just go off with Xavier instead!" I yelled before Richard was standing right in front of me.

"Don't you _dare _ever talk about Xavier again," he threatened and for once, I was actually frightened of him.

"He knows how to treat me right Richard. Xavier can say pretty much anything, and it'll get me in the mood. Did you know what we shared a heated kiss before I found you and Barbara?" I taunted. Now, my goal was to see how mad I could get him before he snapped.

"Wouldn't be the first time you cheated on me," Richard retorted with an icy glare. His eyes were quickly getting darker and darker until they reached a pitch black that made chills run up my spine.

"Maybe it's a sign to you that you don't please me and that you can't make me happy," I spat, though I knew it was a lie.

"We both know that you love what I do to you." It seemed that he knew it was a lie too. A cocky smirk was plastered on Richard's face so I became determined to get rid of it.

"_Loved_ what you did to me, but Xavier does it better. If you hadn't come running towards us, I would have probably had the best sex I've ever had," I said.

"Well I guess we're both disappointed because you interrupted me from getting mine with _Babs_," Richard said, using her nickname.

"You are such a prick!" I yelled at him, standing up from my bed so that I didn't have to look so far up just to meet his eyes.

"And you're a slut. We all have our flaws," Richard said before I raised my hand and slapped him.

"Don't you _dare _call me a slut! After what happed with Roy, I wanted to take a break, but you forgave me so we got back together! It's not **my **fault that **you** couldn't keep your hands off that fucking Barbie!" I yelled. The tears were harder to hold back now.

"If you hadn't run off with Roy to the bathroom at the club in the first place we wouldn't even be having this fight!" Richard yelled back at me.

"Well then I guess it's all my fault, isn't it! It's always been my fault, about everything! My fault that Roy cheated on me! My fault that Xavier took me from my home! My fault that now your whole clan is ready to go to war! My fault that you can't get over Barbara! My fault that Xavier is a pervert! My fault that I'm young and maybe not ready to settle down! And I'm guessing that it's also my fault that our relationship never seems to work!

"It could never be your fault since you're too perfect! Everybody loves you and thinks that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you! Well news flash _Richie-poo_! You're an ass who I hope burns in hell. Or better yet, you can just stay a heartless vampire for the rest of your fucking life and that you never die but instead you're forced to watch of the world go on while you just rot away _alone_!" I screamed at him.

"Shut up!" Richard yelled before grabbing me around the neck and pushing me up against the wall. The wind was knocked out of me from the collision so now I was choking with no air to begin with.

"Heartless," I managed to choke out before I was dropped to the ground. I landed on my hands and knees, bent over and trying to breathe.

"I knew you were a monster," I finally gasped, my body trembling. Richard just stood there in shock. It looked as thought he was also trembling.

"I-" he began to say.

"Don't waste you're breath on me, just get out of my room," I told him before I heard glass shattering. I looked up to see that my large window had been broken since Richard used that has he way to get out. Now that he was gone, the only thing that I could hear was the wind rustling through the trees and my own hoarse breathing. Finally, I let the tears fall, and that's where I stayed for the remainder of the night.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Sorry for the long wait for an update, but it was a pretty long chapter so I hope that makes up for some of it. I had had other plans for where I wanted this story to go, but I decided to make it longer by adding in this chapter and what's soon to follow it.

Please review!

Kattie


	20. Dream Come True

That night, I couldn't sleep, cry, or move. I just stayed curled up in a ball on my bed while my thoughts tormented me.

_"Everyone will hate me now because they'll all have heard us fighting," _I thought, knowing that it was true. Having nothing better to do, I went over to my large bathroom and started up a warm shower. The warm water eased my tense body and over all helped me relax. When I stepped out, almost an hour later, I dressed in a lose fitting white t-shirt and some cloth shorts. After brushing my hair and pulling it into a ponytail, I went over to my broken window-wall. The moon was full tonight and cast a white light on everything, making the atmosphere seem almost haunted.

_"Of course it seems haunted, I'm living with a bunch of vampires," _I thought, finding no humor in that thought as I usually would. Even though the outside world had a haunted look to it, it seemed to call to me and soon I found myself standing outside with the cool grass under my bare feet.

There was a chilling winter breeze that seemed to be blowing non-stop. All of the trees were swaying in opposite directions with the wind making it seem as it there were different gusts of wind being sent out in different directions all from the clearing I was standing in. Off in the distance, I heard a faint owl hoot along with the sound of rushing water.

Suddenly, _everything_ stopped. The trees no longer swayed in odd directions, the wind stopped blowing, the owl was silent, and I could no longer hear the sound of rushing water. My breath hitched when I saw a pair of beady black eyes staring at me from the darkness of the surrounding forest. Right away, I knew to cross wild animal off of my list of suspicions because no animal had those type of eyes. These eyes were cold, and menacing, and _hungry_.

"Xavier," I gasped before running into the forest, but away from the eyes. While I ran, I heard a darkly amused laughter following me and then everything unfroze. The breeze started up again, but this time more powerful so the wind picked up the leaves and blew them around. Also, now the animals wouldn't stop making their noises and instead of hearing the rushing water, the skies started to pour. As I ran, my hair got caught on a tree branch so I had to pull out of the hair tie, leaving my hair to fly around and get in front of my face.

"Where are you running Kory?" a voice called out to me. I could tell it was male, but because of the howling winds, I couldn't identify who the voice belong to. The forest ground soon became mud and my feet sank into the ground before I ripped them out to keep running. My hair, though heavy because it was wet, still flew around and went into my line of vision. Because I couldn't see, I wasn't able to see the large tree root which caused me to fall.

I landed on my hands and knees in the mud, feeling a rock cut into my lower thigh. Quickly, I was losing hope in my ability to stay alive for much longer and warm salty tears ran from my eyes. My body was trembling with fear and my vision was blurry from my crying. I was done for and I knew it.

"Please God, help," I begged quietly while trying to get up from the ground.

"I can smell your blood Kory. It calls to me," the man spoke again.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed out into the night. I heard foot steps and looked up at who my follower was only to have my heart stop.

"Richard," I whispered, my tears falling faster now. "Why?" I asked weakly, finally standing even though my legs were shaking. He didn't answer, but just continued to stare at me, hunger in his gaze. Even though I knew it was useless, I turned away from him and began to run away from him. My running was useless because I knew that Richard could catch up to me in a heart beat if he had a heart to beat. As I ran, branches from trees cut my arms, legs, face, and ripped holes in my shirt which was soaked through and sticking to my mid-section.

"Why do you run Kory? Afraid I'll hurt you?" he mocked, his voice echoing all around me. From what I knew of Richard before, he would never hurt me, but now I didn't know anything of him.

"Stay away!" I screamed at him, but my only response was his cold laughter.

"Your blood calls to me Kory, and I want it. Why keep me from what I want. I thought you loved me," Richard yelled, his tone harsh.

"I loved Richard! Not you! You're just a monster like Xavier!" I yelled before I was pushed up against a rather large tree by a pair of cold hands.

"I am Richard, don't you recognize me?" Richard asked, forcing me to look up into his eyes. Instead of his normal, passionate blue eyes, I was forced to look up into pitch black ones that held no emotion except thirst, but it wasn't the thirst that usually appeared in his eyes when he looked at me. This thirst was for my blood.

"You're not Richard," I spat before he pushed his lips to mine with a bruising force. The kiss was cold and heartless, no feelings in it. I fought against his hold, against his touch, but no matter what I did; I knew that Richard would always be stronger than me.

_"My dream! This is my dream coming true!" _I thought, horrified that it was the truth. Soon, I found myself running out of air so I once again tried to push away from Richard. This time, he actually responded by pulling his lips away from and letting his cold eyes wander over my body.

"Let me go Richard," I ordered, but he ignored my voice and just continued to stare at me. I soon realized that he was staring at all of my cuts which were bleeding.

"Don't," I begged, watching as Richard knelt down so that he was even with the large cut on my thigh. Without even looking up at me again, he ran his tongue over the cut and let out a pleased groan.

"You taste delicious," Richard said, his voice deep with blood lust. I just let the tears fall as he cleaned all of my cuts with his tongue.

"Please stop," I whimpered when Richard noticed he blood stains on my shirt. Slowly, he brought his cold hands up to my stomach and pressed against the cuts, causing me to hiss in pain. Without warning, Richard ripped my shirt open until right below my breasts and started to lick the cuts I had there too. The whole time he did this, I was crying and kept asking myself why he was doing this.

"I'm a monster, aren't I? This is what monsters do. They take what they want without caring about the victim," Richard answered my quiet question before he slowly began to tear the rest of my shirt. "And what I want, is _you_. _All _of you," he growled before kissing me roughly once again. All I could do was stand still and quietly whimper at his actions while Richard roughly ran his hands over my body. Any of the cuts his hands fell over, Richard made sure to scrape over them with his nails and make them bleed more. When he came to the cut on my thigh, he dug into the flesh which made me scream out in pain.

"What's wrong Kory?" Richard asked, watching as I cried from the pain he was causing me.

"_I hate you_!" I screamed at him before slapping him. Richard froze before staring up at me, this time his eyes filled with anger.

"You'll regret that," Richard hissed into my ear before slamming me harder against the tree. I heard something crack, but wasn't sure if it was the tree, or me. Now I didn't even have energy to scream as Richard threw me to the ground and held my arms above my head. My conscious was slowly slipping from me and I knew that I would soon be out cold. Once that happened, who knew if I would ever wake up again after Richard was done with me.

"Please stop," I begged once more, my voice coming out as nothing more than a weak whisper.

"I love the sound of you begging for me to do something to you. Wither it's one thing," he said, looking down at my revealed chest, "or _another_," Richard then added, looking at all of my still bleeding cuts. Deciding that begging wouldn't get me anywhere, I chose to do something else.

"_Fuck you_," I hissed venomously. He just glared at me. In less than a second, Richard had my body lifted off the ground with his hard wrapped around my neck, slowly squeezing the life out of me. My vision became clouded as I ran out of air, but I didn't have enough energy to struggle against his hold. All I could do was hang there as Richard slowly killed me.

"So this is what you've become: a low-life vampire who kills for pleasure," another voice spoke. Richard dropped me and I fell to the ground, landing on my knees while I gasped for breath. "I thought you had potential Richard, potential to be something amazing. I guess that sometimes I even make mistakes." Bruce stepped out of the shadows.

"This doesn't concern you, _leave_," Richard growled, standing between Bruce and I.

"Of course it concerns me. It concerns me and the rest of the clan what you do to Kory because she could either save us, or kill us. It all depends on what you do and how it effects her because _you _are the one that effects her more than anything and anybody else," Bruce said sternly as the others stepped out of the shadows as well. Soon they were surrounding Richard and I in a circle and I felt a twinge of hope that I might actually live through this.

"Oh God Kory," Karen gasped when she say me kneeling on the ground covered in mud, blood, and tears. "What the hell did you do to her you bastard?!"

"Nothing she didn't have coming," Richard spat. Normally, I would probably glare at him and say something back, but right now I had to focus all of my energy on not passing out.

"That's bullshit! Kory never did anything!" Victor yelled.

"She's a stupid whore who doesn't know when to keep her legs crossed!" Richard insulted me.

"So this is why you're doing this to her?! Because you hurt her and she was trying to stop the pain!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Oh yeah because sleeping around with the enemy is a great way to stop the pain," Richard mocked. His words cut me deep as I looked down at the ground, ashamed of myself.

"Just give her to us Richard," Raven said.

"I can't do that Raven because she's mine and as long as she still breathes, she'll forever be mine," Richard said before picking me up in his arms and holding my neck near his mouth. I was limp in his arms, like a rag doll and my head limply fell to the side, revealing my neck to Richard as he licked his lips. A jolt of pain ran through me when he sunk his fangs into my neck and I screamed out in pain.

"No!" Bruce yelled before running forward and tackling Richard to the ground. Since I was still being held by Richard, I went falling back with him, but somebody caught me before I fell to the muddy ground once again.

"Go after him!" Bruce ordered as my eyes slowly closed.

"Stay with us Kory," I heard Karen beg as she began to run back towards the mansion. I knew we were inside when the rain stopped falling on me and it became brighter.

"Go get a bed ready," Raven ordered and somebody went running ahead to prepare the medical room for me.

"If he ever shows his face again," Beast Boy started, I could hear the hate in his voice.

"He will when he returns to normal to see Kory again," Bruce's calm voice stood out amongst the others'.

"No," I whispered. All I wanted to do was forget Richard's face and what happened earlier.

"The bastard got away," Victor told Bruce as I was placed on a cold surface.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!! Get away from me! Let me go!" I screamed, my eyes still closed so I saw Richard's face flash across my mind.

"He's gone Kory, he's not here," Karen tried to calm me, but I wouldn't listen.

"Stay away! Don't touch me!" I kept screaming and squirming around, trying to get away from the cold hands that were holding me down. My nails clawed into the metal below me as I felt restraints being placed around my wrists and ankles.

"Check the bite," Bruce ordered Raven before I felt the painful tingling in my neck.

"She's unstable, I can't work with her like this!" Raven yelled over my screams. All I could see were his haunting eyes, all I could feel were his cold hands holding me down, and all I could hear was his cold laughter while I screamed out in pain.

"I'm sorry Kory," I heard Bruce whispered to me before my world went black.

**oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo**

**So I know that the chapter was that long, but I think that it was pretty damn good! I'm really happy with this chapter and I hope that everyone else is too! I should be updating **Being With You Only Brings The Tears **within the next couple of days, but then I'm going to Washington until like the 9****th**** of July, so the next update may take some time.**

**Please review!**

**Kattie**


	21. Understand

The first thing that registered when I woke up was pain. A horrible, throbbing pain that echoed throughout my whole being. I wanted to cry out because of it, but found that I had no strength… to do anything.

_"Why can't I move?!" _Panic was beginning to take over what small bit of my mind that was registering with the rest of my body. The pain was still coursing throughout my body, so now that I was in a panic mode thing just got a whole lot worse. My breathing became labored and my body began to slowly tremble which actually brought hope to me.

"Help," I rasped out, now realizing just how dry my throat was.

"Get Raven here right away." I heard Bruce's voice, but it seemed so far off and distant. I felt a breeze run over my right arm before my pain, trembling, and panic was replaced by a cold, numbing, tingling feeling. My breathing calmed and my muscles relaxed.

"I need you to try and open your eyes Kory," Raven spoke to me quietly. Slowly, I willed any energy I could muster towards my heavy eyelids and soon I saw a small sliver of light. Then, when my eyes had finally fully opened, all I saw was piercing black eyes despite the light I had seen earlier.

_"Where do I know those eyes?" _I questioned myself since I couldn't remember a lot.

"What do you see Kory?" Raven asked, but once again the voice sounded distant.

"I see black, beady, cold eyes," I whispered hoarsely.

"We need to get her restrained before the memories come back," Raven said quickly before I felt cold metal on both of my wrists and ankles.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice gaining more strength.

"I'm sorry about this Kory, but we have to do it to make sure you don't get hurt. Allen, go get Karen and make sure there are people guarding the doors and windows. I also want a team to go out and search for Richard again," Bruce ordered, but after that, I wasn't able to hear anything else except a dark laughter.

"Where's Richard?" I asked, the sound of laughter still surrounding me.

"I need to see Richard," I told them.

"You can't see Richard right now because he isn't here," Raven said, her voice sounding quiet against the laughter.

"Where is he?" I asked, my words slightly slurred. _"Maybe that's the reason I can't remember anything, I'm just hung over," _I thought, but then the images of the other night flashed across my mind and I let out a whimper.

"She's starting to remember," Raven spoke, but now I could barely even hear her. Now I was seeing everything that had happened last night over again and it made tears spill out from under my closed eyes.

"Make it stop," I quietly begged, my voice weak and hoarse again. Soon the images were coming faster and I couldn't make them stop. All I could see was Richard's pale face, empty eyes, and my own fear shining back in his eyes. "Get away from me!" I screamed out when I was reminded of Richard slowly stalking towards me, as if I were his prey (which I was that night). Soon I was sobbing from the pain and betrayal I was forced to see Richard cause me. When the flashback ended, I stopped moving and only whimpered.

"Is she okay now?" I heard Beast Boy asked. There was no answer from Raven or anyone else, but I felt the restraints being taken off. Slowly, I opened my eyes to see Bruce, Raven, and Beast Boy surrounding me. "Hey Kory," Beast Boy said, trying to smile. I let out another sob before sitting up and hugging him tightly. I could tell the others were watching me oddly as I hung on to their green haired friend and sobbed.

"Please don't let him take me," I begged in between my sobs. "He'll come back, I know he will. He'll come back to take me away and then he'll torture me for hours. Please, don't let him," I told them. When I was able to let go of Beast Boy because he seemed uncomfortable, he wrapped his arms around me to return the hug.

"What are you going to do to keep Kory safe Bruce? We can't let Richard get anywhere near her or she'll start screaming. I won't let him get close enough for her to see him," Beast Boy said, as he held me protectively.

"Kory will be staying in my room while I stay in my office. She will never be left alone or be unwatched. At least two people will be standing guard of her door at all times alone with two other people in the room with her. All windows will be locked close along with any doors that lead outside. I want Kory's window repaired right away and someone staying in her room to watch for Richard incase he tries to look in on her room," Bruce ordered. Even as he spoke about all the security, I still didn't feel safe, but instead even more uneasy. It seemed that Raven sensed my unease since she decided to speak up.

"Bruce, Kory doesn't know half of the people here well enough to feel comfortable or safe around them. She needs to be with people that she's known and is close with so gain back a sense of normality," she told them as my sobbing began to stop.

"Can I see Terra?" I asked quietly while I let go of Beast Boy. They all just looked at me for a moment before Bruce finally spoke.

"Yes, you can go see Terra. Raven, Victor, Karen, and Beast Boy will be joining you though to make sure that you're safe at all times," he said. I smiled weakly, before hugging the older man.

"Thank you Bruce," I whispered before letting go of him.

"When do we leave?" Raven asked.

"You can leave tonight. Kory, call Terra and tell her that you'll be visiting her, but for no more then a week," Bruce ordered before I slowly reached my hand up to touch my neck. I had almost forgotten that what the pain at the end of my flash back was from, but now I remembered that Richard had bitten me.

"Am I going to be alright?" I asked Raven, my hand still on my neck. The two men seemed to drop their eyes to the ground, but she kept the eye contact.

"Luckily, Bruce stopped Richard before he could cause any damage. You'll be fine, just don't do anything to serious because you've lost a lot of blood," Raven told me and I only nodded.

"Should I return to my room to get my things?" I asked, not knowing if it would be safe to return to my room.

"Yes, Raven, go with her," Bruce ordered before Raven nodded.

"When you stand up, you'll probably feel dizzy. Just stand up slowly and it won't be as bad," she told me which I did do. I stood up slowly and when I was standing, I didn't feel dizzy… so I took a step forward. Right away, the room began to spin and I felt like I was going to throw up. Raven took hold of one of my arms and helped me stand when I thought that I was going to fall.

"How long was I out?" I asked Raven as she helped me down the halls and towards my room.

"A day, almost two. Your body was under a lot of stress and decided to sleep it out," she informed me.

"Why wasn't I affected from Richard's bite like I was from the dogs?" I asked and Raven slowed her walking.

"His bite did have an affect on you, but before you were taken here, Bruce had us all give up a sample of our blood so that if one of us bit you, there'd be a cure for the poison," she said.

"Poison? I thought that if I got bit I would turn into a vampire."

"No, turning into a vampire is a much more complex procedure than just getting bitten by one. If you just get bitten, and not sucked dry until you die, then a poison from the vampire will work it's why through your system until your deathly ill. You'll become extremely weak and the scent of the vampire that bit you will become infused with your own scent. With that done, no other vampires will try to bite you, but the original vampire can easily find you and finish what they started," Raven told me and I could help but let a cold shiver run down my spine.

"How does the blood from the vampire that bit someone help?" I asked her, my hand unconsciously reaching up and running over the two small indents from when Richard had bitten me.

"The blood makes it so that you won't get extremely weak, but some of the scent still remains which means that Richard could find you no matter where we hid you," she explained and I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.

"I'll never be free of him, will I? He'll always be able to find me and finish the job if he wants," I spoke quietly, more so talking to myself than the vampire next to me.

"That may be true, but you won't ever be alone with Richard. Besides Kory, I don't think he ever really planned to kill you," Raven said which caused me to stare at her in disbelief. By now we had reached my room and when I entered it, the first thing my gaze went to was the now repaired window.

"Yeah, because cutting me up, throwing me on the ground, and biting me isn't considered trying to kill me. It's just torture right?" I asked, sarcasm dripping from my words.

"I know Richard so I know what I'm saying when I say that he wouldn't have killed you! It's not his fault that you can't stick with one guy!" Raven yelled, glaring at me. I felt the air get thicker with her anger, but that didn't make me back down.

"Are you going to call me a whore now too? Go ahead, I'm sure all of you have been saying it behind my back. I'm just the stupid human who can't keep her legs crossed!" I snapped back, returning her glare with one of my own.

"Well lets see here, how many guys have you slept with in the past week? Two, almost three? Sorry to break it to you _sweetheart _but you **are **a whore!" she told me.

"You have no idea what I've been through! How can you just come over and try to claim you understand what I'm going through in even the _slightest _way?!" I was finally yelling. Before I was trying to keep somewhat calm, but I couldn't take Raven acting as though she knew me any more.

"That's right, what do I know? Let us all feel sorry for you because you had some boy troubles," she said, obviously trying to mock me.

"How would you feel to be taken from your home by two vampires?! I was, and still am, being chased around like some price by you _bloodthirsty animals_ with no one to feel comfortable around! The only one I can feel like I even slightly trust is Bruce, but even there I have some doubts seeing how the rest of you act!" I yelled before I found myself aquatinted with the ground, my cheek stinging.

"Raven, control yourself," Bruce ordered as I felt my eyes heat up from the pressure of tears.

"I won't be able to go with her to visit her friend," Raven said, looking the older vampire in the eyes as she spoke.

"And why is that?" Bruce asked as I struggled to sit up. I could tell that my cheek was red from the slap, but the pain seemed too strong to be from just a slap. It wouldn't surprise me if she had broken the cheek bone.

"She's unstable with her emotions and speaks before she thinks. On top of that, she has no idea of what she's talking about," Raven explained while I glared at her. I had managed to pick myself up so that I was at least sitting instead of lying down on the ground.

"Kory is going to visit her friend Terra to help regain some control under her unstable emotions, and from what I heard, you don't know what you're talking about either. You need to be there incase she gets hurt Raven, so you two need to work out whatever is going on between you," Bruce said, leaving no room for argument.

"Fine, but I'm not spending any more time with her then I have to," Raven said before walking towards the door in hopes to leave.

"Before you go, you have to make sure you didn't hurt Kory too badly," Bruce said, his gaze falling on me.

"I'm fine, I don't need her help," I tried to convince the two vampires while I stood up. My legs were slightly shaking because of the force of the slap (she is superhuman after all) which led both Bruce and Raven to believe differently from what I had said.

"Make sure she isn't hurt," Bruce said and Raven walked over to me. "Oh and Raven, don't do that again," he said before leaving my room. Raven sat me down on my bed while the cold, tingling feeling rushed through my face. It was uncomfortable, but I could already feel the pain on my cheek being lifted.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you Raven," I said quietly when she seemed as though she was done healing my cheek.

"It wasn't my business to be poking around in, but Richard is like a brother to me and I hate to have everyone thinking so little of him," Raven said with a sigh. I had a feeling that this talk between us was going to lead to an understanding.

"Well you don't really expect me to think highly of him after what he did to me in the forest do you?" I asked her.

"I can't expect you to think well of Richard after what he's done to you, but don't think of him as a heartless monster. He's not a monster and you know that. Calling him one, almost sleeping with Xavier, along with sleeping with Roy is what really drove him to do what he did to you in the forest. Just by those facts alone, you can tell that he did some of it partially out of his love for you. By biting you, Richard made it so that he can find you no matter where you are and marked you as his. He knew that you wouldn't die because we had his blood with us," Raven told me, and now that I looked at it that way, I was beginning to understand most of what happened last night.

"You're right Raven, about everything that happened with Richard, but that doesn't mean that I can suddenly forget the images he's left me with. When I see him again, I'll probably want to scream and run, which you need to understand instead of seeing it as me thinking of him as a monster," I told her.

"As long as you understand that he isn't really a monster, we'll be fine," Raven said and I smiled at her.

"I'll be able to do that," I agreed, nodding.

"Alright, then lets get packed for your visit," Raven said, trying to smile. Even though it wasn't really all that great of a smile, I could tell she was trying, and that's what mattered.

"Okay," I said before pulling out the suitcase once again.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Wow, that was a pretty long chapter! Believe it or not, this story is actually starting to come to an end. There is maybe only seven or so chapters left, and though that may seem like a lot, it really isn't. I'm not sure if there is going to be a sequel or not, but don't count on it. I say no sequel because the sequel would probably just end up ruining this story because it could never be as good as the original.

Please review!

Kattie


	22. Taken Into Custody

The whole drive to Terra's home, my stomach was filled with butterflies. I was nervous to say the least about what she would say, and what I would say to her. At the club, I was just swept away by Richard after he took down one of the body guards in a blind rage. The best I could have done was call her and tell her that everything was fine, but since I didn't even do that, Terra might have made some kind of police report.

_"How would I explain that I was taken away by my vampire boyfriend?" _I thought, staring out of the window and at the stormy clouds that hung above the approaching city. It would probably be another hour or so before we reached Terra's place, and even though I was traveling in a car with Raven, Victor, Beast Boy, Wally, Karen, Allen, and Jericho; I still didn't feel safe. I knew that Richard was somewhere out there, watching me from far away and calculating when would be the best time to sweep down and finish what he started.

_"No, he isn't trying to kill me. Richard just wants to make sure others know that I belong to him," _I thought, referring to what Raven had told me, but I found it hard to believe. With all my heart, I wanted to believe that Richard had good intentions, but after what he did to me in the forest, it was hard to get past the memory he had recently left me with. Pushing (or at least trying to) the thoughts of Richard out of my head, I thought back to how I would explain my predicament to Terra.

_"No doubt she'll be bombarding me with questions about where I went and what happened to Richard. Oh God, what am I going to tell her?" _I thought, happy that I had at least another hour to make up a reasonable lie that she would hopefully buy.

_"What if she tells Roy about my return? What if I see Roy again? What if Roy tries to follow me back?" _all of these thoughts were running through my head a mile a minute and it made my stomach coil. As my thoughts were more occupied with those of the 'what ifs', I wasn't able to concentrate on making up a reasonable story to tell Terra and soon realized that the vehicle had come to a stop.

"This her place?" Victor asked, pointing to the apartment building we were parked next to. I nodded before everyone got out of the car. It was weird to be walking in the middle of a formation of vampires, but a lot of things had been weird for me in the past couple of weeks.

_"It really only has been a couple of weeks since all of this has started. Wow, it's amazing how much God hates me," _I thought grimly as we all filled into the elevator, me once again in the middle. When the doors opened once again, Jericho and Raven stepped out, searched the hallways, and then made a motion for us to follow. Of course, I was still in the middle, so that when we finally reached Terra's door and knocked, she was surprised to see Raven and Jericho staring at her.

"Ugh…. Can I help you?" Terra asked before I pushed through the two (well they more so moved to the side) and launched into her arms.

"K-Kory?! Oh my God! W-what… w-where?" she stuttered while I held her. It took a moment before she was crying and hugging me back while Victor and Allen went into the apartment and started searching it.

"W-where have y-you been?" Terra asked, trying to not ruin her make up while she wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. "W-what are they doing?" she then asked, watching as Beast Boy and Jericho went in to search her apartment as well, leaving Raven, Karen, and Wally at my sides.

"I've been staying with some friends and they're going in to make sure your apartment is safe. I'm in a bit of trouble and they don't want to take any chances with me," I said, telling her the sunny side of the horrid truth that was going on.

"Well what's going on? Does it have to do with that asshole boyfriend of yours?" Terra asked, well more like demanded, her tears vanishing as she grew angry and serious.

"Sort of. There isn't a lot I can tell you Terra. I just came back to get a feel of my normal life because I was going kinda insane," I told her, knowing that I really had been going insane at that house.

"What do you mean you can't tell me what's going on?! If you're in trouble I want to help you Kory," my friend argued, but I just smiled and pushed past her into the apartment. Raven, Wally, and Karen followed me in, shutting the door behind them.

"The less you know the better. Uh… did Roy talk to you after I left with R-richard?" I asked, pacing uneasily across her living room floor. Victor, Beast Boy, Allen, and Jericho soon returned to the main room, guarding all of the doors and windows while still staying relatively close.

"Actually…. He offered to help me search for you. Roy's missed you, a lot, and I think he might be able to help you with Richard. I'm sure Roy could persuade him to back off," Terra said, a grin in her voice.

"I don't think Roy could do anything to help and he really is the second to last person I want to see right now," I said, the first person being Richard.

"Then maybe it's best that you leave Kory," Terra said, though she didn't say it in a rude way; more of a worried way.

"Why, is something going on?" I asked and it seemed that the surrounding vampires tensed at my words.

"Roy offered to help me look for you and I said that he could…."

"Yeah, so? Why do I have to leave?" I asked, not seeing the problem in her words aside from the fact that Roy was involved.

"He agreed to stay here with me instead of staying at his place over half an hour away. Roy should be back soon," Terra said and I took in a sharp breath.

"I-is there any way you can call him and tell him not to come today?" I asked, trying to find some way for me to avoid seeing my ex.

"He was going to the store to put up a missing sign and get some food. Roy left twenty minutes ago, so he'll be here any minute," she said, her voice quiet from the betrayal she thought she was putting me through. I didn't think of her using Roy's help to find me as betrayal, I just wished there was another way so that I wouldn't see him.

"We don't have to stay Kory. We can leave and come back later when he won't be around," Allen suggested, but at that moment all of the vampires turned towards the door. Terra and I followed their gaze and a moment later the door opened to reveal Roy.

"Kory," he breathed, staring at me in shock since he had obviously not been expecting the visit. Before I could even think of what to say in reply, Victor, Wally, Karen, and Beast Boy were standing in front of me. Raven was behind Roy and at the door while Jericho stood right next to him, looking down menacingly.

"What the hell?!" Roy yelled, to seeing their fast movements so it came as a shock when they just suddenly appeared next to him. Terra seemed to be shocked as well because she let out a small scream.

"Who the fuck are they?" Roy swore, gesturing towards the seven beautiful pale immortals. I pushed past them slightly, just to the point where I could be seen but not much closer to Roy.

"I'm sorry Terra, we have to be leaving now," I said, my voice quiet as I tried to ignore my ex's hard gaze.

"No Kory, I want to know what's going on. Roy, go wait in my room," Terra ordered, pointing to a hall to the right of where he stood.

"I'm not leaving until I get to know what the hell is going on!" Roy yelled. It seemed he still had a thing for swearing.

"I'll tell you later if Kory says it okay. Now you need to leave because she won't talk with you around. Part of the reason she ran off last time is because of you. Get into the room," Terra said through gritted teeth. I had never seen her like this, so demanding and cold. It was a different side of her that I wasn't so sure I liked much. The Terra I knew was always smiling and bubbly, but as long as it got rid of Roy, I could not argue with this new side. Roy huffed once more before leaving for the room, Victor and Jericho following him.

"What the hell do you people want?!" Roy yelled, their presence next to him not going unnoticed.

"They have to go with you in order to make sure you don't try anything. It's to keep me safe," I told him, barely keeping my voice from cracking. It really was hard talking to him after everything that he had done to me and after everything that had happened because of what we did at the club.

"Oh yeah because I'm really going to hurt you. Do you really think so shitty of me?" Roy asked, glaring hard at me.

"Just go into my damn room Harper!" Terra yelled, addressing him by his last name which she hadn't done since I had broken up with him after he cheated on me for the second time. Roy stared at her before his brown eyes shifted to me. I held his piercing gaze for a moment before he turned and went into Terra's room. Jericho went in with him, obviously to keep an eye on him, while Victor stood outside the door with his arms crossed over his muscular chest.

"What's going on Kory?" Terra asked as she pulled me towards the couch. I took a seat and she sat next to me.

"I'm in trouble as I've already told you. There isn't a lot I can tell you because then you could be put in danger," I said with a sigh.

"Then why did you even come if you knew I would just ask questions you couldn't answer. I don't want you to think I'm not happy about your visit because I would have been devastated if you hadn't come to see me, but I just don't understand," my friend said, and I understand what she meant. It did seem kinda pointless for the visit if I would just leave her with unanswered questions and confusion.

"I can't answer all of your questions in as much detail as I may normally like to, but I had to come see you. A lot has happened to me and I feel like I'm loosing my grip on humanity. Like my mind was slowly slipping out of my grasp because I didn't know what was real anymore and if I could trust myself or anyone around me. Richard did something that really scared me and it pretty much led to my partial insanity. Nobody really knows where he is right now and I've been pledged with nightmares the last couple of nights. I came to see you so that I knew there was still something real in the world that I could trust. Richard was what kept me safe and happy and he betrayed me, and I just needed to make sure something like that would never happen with you. You're really all I have left Terra, and in truth, it terrifies me," I admitted, my voice shaky at the end as I felt the tears make their way from my hurt emerald eyes.

"Oh Kory… I'm so sorry that bastard did that to you! You didn't deserve that at all," Terra said, hugging me as the tears silently fell.

"But I did deserve it Terra! I was horrible to Richard and he deserved so much better than me because I was nothing but trouble. All I brought to him was pain and he didn't deserve any of it," I said quietly, my voice shaking more. I felt a warm breeze and it felt as thought the wind was knocked out of me as realization hit like a ton of bricks. Seven cold breezes were followed by this once warmer breeze and I tore away from Terra to look up at the new presence.

"You really need to stop down sizing yourself Kory," Richard said, his voice soft and not at all like how I had last heard it that night in the forest. He made a move to step closer to me, but five pairs of cold hands were suddenly holding him back while the other two free bodies moved in front of Terra and I.

"What the fuck is going on now?!" Roy yelled when he emerged from Terra's room. A growl was heard from deep within Richard's chest as his animal instincts kicked in upon seeing the hated man.

"I told you the next time you saw him you wouldn't be left alone," Richard said, his voice having a hard edge even though I could tell he was trying to hold back his anger so that I wasn't frightened.

"Are you going to come back peacefully or are we gonna have to fight Richard?" Victor asked, his grip on Richard's left arm tightening.

"I didn't come here to fight, I came here to see Kory," Richard stated and I felt my heart clench, but from what I wasn't sure. It was either from fear, him saying my name, or the hurt I felt from seeing him being held back from me.

"Leave her alone you asshole! I can't believe you have the nerve to show up after what you did to her!" Terra yelled. Again I felt the throbbing in my chest.

"Besides, we have direct orders from Bruce himself to make sure you stay away from her at all costs. Now, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way," Wally said from where he stood in front of me.

"All I want to do is talk to her," Richard said, his voice calm even though some of his closest friends were holding him back as if he were some monster that couldn't be trusted around the human.

"You might be able to talk to you after you're briefed by Bruce. Pulling a stunt like you did doesn't go by so easily and certainly isn't forgiven so easily. You knew the whole time that you were putting the rest of us in danger, but you just ignored that and kept doing what you wanted to do," Jericho said, his voice cold even though it was usually calm and almost uncaring.

"Who the hell is he Kory?" Roy asked after having walked past the group of six vampires and coming to stand close to Terra. Richard's warm blue eyes shifted from me to Roy as they turned hard and cold in the form of a glare.

"R-richard," I spoke, my voice barely over a whisper.

"Don't tell me this is the ass you left me for?" Roy spat, gesturing towards Richard. There was another growl from Richard before a loud bang followed by Roy's gasping breaths as Richard held him by his neck against the wall, slowly squeezing the life out of him.

"Let him go Richard!" I cried, my words surprisingly coming out before anyone else could move to pull said vampire away from Roy. Richard looked over at my scared expression before releasing his hold and allowing himself to be taken into the hold of the same five vampires; Wally and Karen still standing in front of me protectively.

"We're taking you back to Bruce, don't try to fight Richard. I'd hate to have to hurt you," Raven said before they began to pull him towards the door. Surprisingly, Richard gave no fight as they left the apartment and entered the hallways.

"I'm sorry Terra, but we have to be leaving now," Karen said, his voice kind and soft as Wally walked over to the door.

"B-but why? I just got to see Kory and now you're taking her away from me?" Terra asked, her words tripping over themselves as I slowly rose from the couch.

"I'll see you again Terra, don't worry," I told her before hugging my friend tightly. Wally cleared his throat from the doorway and I pulled away from Terra. I then turned so that I could leave with Karen, but Roy reached out and grabbed my wrist.

"I don't get a goodbye?" he asked, actual worry in his eyes. It amazed me that even after everything he had done to me, Roy still tried to care for me.

"Goodbye Roy," I whispered, before actually hugging him. Instead of wrapping his arms around my waist like he used to when he hugged, Roy wrapped his arms around my mid back and held me tightly. "There will never again be anything more than friendship between us," I then added before pulling away.

"Guess I just screwed up too many times," Roy said, rubbing the back of his neck while he laughed nervously.

"Guess we just weren't meant to be," I corrected before finally leaving the room. As we drove back to the large home Bruce owned, me sitting in the passenger seat while Richard was in the very far back seat in between Victor and Gar, I felt the throbbing in my chest once more, but this time I knew what it was from. It was from the uncertain feeling of me possibly never seeing Terra, and even Roy, again.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Sorry for the really long wait for an update, but I tired to make it a pretty long chapter to make up for that. I don't know about the rest of you, but I read _Breaking Dawn_, by Stephenie Meyer and I loved it! Finished the book in less than two days (that's counting the breaks in between reading) and I think she did a fabulous job on the book.

With that in mind, I'd just like to tell anyone who reads this story to not claim that it is related to the book. I hadn't even heard of _Twilight _or any of the other books when I started writing _Walking With the Damned_ so I'd like it if when you review, you don't try to claim my story is like hers.

You have no rights over my story and it is mine. As for the earlier comment where someone said that because of the large window/wall in Kory's room makes this story kinda based off _Twilight_, not true. The window does become much more important later (if it already hasn't because Kory saw people watching her through it) in the story. To the reviewer who said that, I do hold it against you, but I'd prefer that comments like that are no longer made by anyone who reviews. There are a lot of vampire stories out there and it's not fair that just because _Twilight _is a popular book, that gives people the right to relate it to every vampire story.

Now that my rant is over (stuff like that really does bug me), I gotta say that I was kinda bummed that I only got three reviews for the last chapter. I understand that it was a bit of a slow chapter, but I went from seven reviews for chapter 20; to three reviews for chapter 21. Kinda a far fall and I'm hoping to get more than three reviews for this chapter.

With that said, please review!

Kattie


	23. Working It Out

I was pacing nervously with Karen and Allen watching me. They both seemed rather annoyed with my pacing, but I couldn't stop. I was afraid that if I stopped pacing I might have some kind of nervous break down and maybe throw up. It was weird having Richard in the room next to me with everyone acting so calm.

_"The bastards are probably calm because they can hear everything that's going on but won't tell me," _I thought, shooting a glare in Allen's direction who just looked at me with his eyebrow slightly raised in confusion as to why I was directing my anger at him.

"What the hell is going on?!" I finally snapped, my pacing stopping. The two vampires looked at me oddly before looking at each other and exchanging nods. Karen then stood up and walked over to me.

"It sounds like Richard is going to be let off the hook because he's giving a pretty good explanation for his actions. Everything's going to be fine and you two will be able to go back to loving each other like there's no tomorrow," she said, humor in her voice as my face grew red with embarrassment.

"Things can't just go back to the way they were Karen," I said with a sigh, knowing that it was truth. Richard had scared me and this wasn't something I could get over after he's let off the hook and everyone claims things are fine.

"Why not?" a new voice asked from behind me. I turned around to find Richard leaning against the wall a few feet away from me.

"Could you guys go?" he asked, his eyes darting over to Allen and Karen who were still standing in the room. "Bruce will explain things later. I won't do anything to harm Kory either," Richard added in before the two slowly left, though to me it looked like they were jogging out. Once they were gone and the door was closed, I looked down at the ground while picking at my nails nervously.

"Kory." Richard's voice was soft, almost pleading as he tried to take a step forward which I quickly replied to with a step back.

"Please don't come so close. Raven said that I should try and understand what you did and that I shouldn't fear you, but it's a lot easier said than done. I'll try to hear you out though, so go ahead and tell me whatever you want. I can't promise I'll believe you though." With that said, I stared at Richard in silence while he just stared back. The silence was beginning to become unnerving and I could feel a shiver slowly racking through my body.

"You hate me, don't you?" Richard's question caught me somewhat off guard. I stared at him for a while before choosing my words carefully and answering.

"I try not to _hate _people, but you aren't my most favored person/vampire at the moment." He chucked at this, the sound of it making a shiver run through my body.

"That much I expected and would have been shocked if you said otherwise. I must say that you're handling all of this very well, being 'attacked' by me and all," Richard reminded me and I clenched my fists closed before glaring at him.

"You don't have to remind me of what happened. Trust me, I have a clear enough memory and am reminded of the events every night when I try to sleep," I snapped at him and whatever traces of humor that had been on Richard's face were gone and instead replaced with sorrow and regret.

"I'm sorry Kory, but I couldn't risk losing you to Xavier," he said and I could only scoff.

"So you attack me?! Oh yeah Richard, the best way into my heart is by almost fucking killing me!" I yelled. I could feel my emotions starting to go haywire and knew that I would soon snap and either start crying, or start screaming a slur of cuss words while attempting to hit Richard. Either way, I didn't much care because it felt good to yell at him.

"I would never do anything that would leave you dead. That night I knew _exactly_ what I was doing." Richard's voice was stern as he took a small step forward.

"So it was your plan to scare the shit out of me while being sure to call me a stupid whore! Or did you forget the part when you slammed me against the tree?!" My mind was clouded now as parts of it tried to remind me of what had happened that night in the forest while the other half was focusing on making sure Richard got what he deserved.

"Alright so I lost some control. Can you really blame me after everything you've done?" Richard asked and I could hear the struggle to keep his temper under control while talking to me.

"Of course it's my fault! Isn't everything always my fault! Me and my stupid _human_ emotions that you wouldn't understand because you're too much of a monster to!" I knew that after saying that, I had crossed the line. Someone would have to be blind to not see that Richard was trying to stay as normal as he could without crossing over the border and giving into his animal instincts.

"Richard… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, I'm just really scared and worried because I don't know what's going to happen to me. Bruce and the others keep talking about some great power I'm supposed to have and it makes me wonder if they're going to turn me into a vampire even though I don't want to be one. I'm not ready for that type of change because I feel like I haven't been able to live my life fully yet. This whole thing has just been an out of control rollercoaster that I was dragged on and now can't get off." My words came out soft as I felt the anger I had been feeling start to subside to the fear and pain I had really been feeling all along.

"Are you scared right now? Being in this room right now with me without anyone else to protect you?" Richard asked as he slowly walked forward until he was standing right in front of me and I could feel the chill from his skin. I looked up into his eyes, searching for something, anything that would make me want to be scared, but I found nothing.

"What else is there to be scared of? I've been kidnapped, attacked, and bitten so I think anything that you would want to do to me right now wouldn't scare me," I told him, my voice steady and even even though I could feel my hands shaking. Richard stared down at me for a moment before leaning down and kissing me softly. All my breath was stolen with this kiss because it was what I had been needing: Richard's touch.

I wanted Richard to hold me and tell me everything would be okay and that there was nothing to be scared of. That he would never hurt me again and that everything would work out.

Leaning into the kiss, I felt the tears spill over as I hugged Richard tightly while crying. Everything now was just bubbling over as I sobbed into his shoulder and shook uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry Kory. I never wanted to hurt you and if I could take it back, I would. The bite was only to make sure you would be marked with my scent because I didn't want to lose you again. You mean the world to me Kory and I promise that I'll never do anything like that to you again." His voice was filled with sorrow and regret as well as compassion as he held me tightly and kissed the top of my head.

"W-what do we d-do now Richard?" I asked through shaky lips while trying to stop the tears.

"I'm not sure, but I know who will," Richard said before taking me down the halls and leading me towards Bruce's room.

**oo-oo-oo-oo-oo**

Ugh! So I know it wasn't a super long chapter, but hey! Kory and Richard made up which should make millions of you happy (not that I have millions of readers).

Also more good news! I've decided that I **will **be writing a **sequel** (I put it in bold so people will notice and actually read this)! Yey! This is when everyone starts to cheer and cry with joy because they love my story just that much.

Some not so good news now. This story will be ending in like the next five chapters. There may be even less than that depending on how I make the chapters and then I'm not sure how long it will take me to get the sequel up. So with how longs it's been taking me to update (not by choice) this story might be over in like five months, but hopefully sooner so I can start the sequel sooner.

Please review!

Kattie


	24. The Prophecy

My heart was pounding loudly in my ears as I followed Richard down the halls towards Bruce's room and I'm sure all the surrounding vampires could hear it. I thought for sure that it would go flying out of my chest since it was hammering so hard.

"Everything is going to be fine Kory. I won't let anything bad happen to you." Richard's voice brought me back to reality and I found myself standing in front of a blank door which I knew belonged to Bruce. Nodding once, I took in a deep breath before the vampire holding my hand opened the door and we entered.

"I had a feeling you two would be heading in my direction after speaking. What is it you wish to discuss?" Bruce asked from his spot next to a window that overlooked the city off in the distance. For once, I was actually faster than Richard when I swallowed my fear and spoke what was on my mind.

"I want to know why I'm so special. Everyone keeps talking about how I'll be some amazing vampire but I haven't been told jack-shit about it. If I'm even going to _consider_ staying here after all the crap that's happened to me, I want to know what the hell is going on." My voice was firm as I spoke my demands. The two vampires watched me for a while before Bruce cleared his throat and moved away from the window so he could take a seat behind his desk. Gesturing towards the two other seats on the other side of the desk, Richard and I were soon also seated and then… there was silence.

Just when I thought I was going to snap at Bruce for not speaking, the silence was broken by said man's voice as he began to talk.

"Hundreds of years ago, the first vampire was created by the Moon Goddess and God of the Underworld. They agreed with Mother Nature that humans were beginning to over populate and that there needed to be something to help even out the world. Vampires were what they made to help even out the humans and ever since we have been preying on human life for our own. Upon making the first vampire though, they made a set of rules as well.

"The first rule was to make sure our secret would never be too openly exposed and it's that if a vampire were to drink a human's blood while the sun was still up, they would dry up from the inside out before turning to ash. By making this rule, vampires must hunt at night which makes things more secretive, but even that wasn't enough. After the first vampire was made, the Moon Goddess, God of the Underworld, and Mother Nature saw that it was reckless and dangerous so they wanted to keep it a secret. The only way they could do that was to create another rule which is that if a vampire were to expose the secret, it would turn to ash much like it would if it were to hunt during the day.

"Not soon after the first vampire was created, the Goddess of Love found out and made her own rule out of pity for the creature. It seemed the vampire had fallen in love with a human but could not expose itself to said human in fear of turning to ash. The new rule the Goddess of Love made was more so an edited version of the second rule, but has all the same stuck with vampires for all these years. The new version of the rule was that if a vampire were to expose itself to someone, it must be out of love. So the vampire was able to expose is secret to the human and they eventually fell in love but not before the woman human became pregnant. From that came the first breed of vampires and we've been thriving since then.

"It wasn't soon after that though, maybe a couple hundred years later, that the God of Fate found out about the vampires and made his own adjustment to the rules. This God joined the group because he found that some of the humans he looked over would suddenly have life changing experiences, but nothing to explain them. Turns out it was a vampire that the human may have unexpectedly seen that changed that human's life, but then the vampire turned to ash because said human knew. The God of Fate found this unfair, as did the Goddess of Love because she was compassionate for the vampires, and they made it so that a vampire could expose itself to a human if it played a hand in said human's fate."

I sat in silence while taking in all of this information while trying to spot out how I fit into the puzzle. Since I couldn't find anything, I decided to voice my original question.

"I still don't see how any of this has to do with me. Sure that explains why you guys were able to reveal yourselves to me, but that doesn't explain why I'm so important," I stated. Bruce was simply telling me the origin of vampires and I wanted to know more about me (call me selfish, whatever).

"I'm getting to that Kory," Bruce said, his eyes never leaving mine which was somewhat creepy. All the while Richard just sat there silently next to me as if he was in a trance of some sort.

"When humans began to really populate the earth, more vampires started to be born by those who were themselves newborns and weren't exactly sure how to control their newly bestowed power. The Gods and Goddess that had created the vampires and made their rules made yet another rule that two vampires could not bread like humans do in order to make new life, or in the case of vampire mating, new damned. This rule helped keep down the amount of vampires for a while, but then the ones that were already created would just keep making more and now all around the world there is beginning to be too many vampires. This is where you come into play.

"Not even a hundred years ago, one of the elder vampires found a stone and on it was carved a prophecy. This prophecy spoke of a human girl around your age with long hair, bright eyes, a birth mark on their left shoulder, a kind heart, and extraordinary power. When said girl was found, she would either help vampires take over the world, possibly ending human life as we know it, or she would help balance out the population of vampires and humans so that neither species takes over.

"You match the given description which is why we sought you out. The only reason you have yet to become a vampire is because I wanted to make sure you understood everything first. If Slade had gotten to you first and changed you into a vampire, he would have used your power to take over the human race so that vampires would rule the earth. I plan to _help _you use the power you'll be granted with to make humans and vampires balanced as they once were. Do you feel better now that you know the truth as to why you are here?" Bruce asked. I could only try my hardest not to slide out of my seat in disbelief.

"You've got the wrong girl," I spoke finally, my voice weak with… fear?

"What?" Richard asked. It was nice to hear his voice again, but it only made the fear in the pit of my stomach grow more.

"You've got the wrong girl. I'm not he girl the prophecy spoke of," I told them again. It was beginning to get harder to speak as the fear kept washing over me, each wave harder to stand up to than the first.

"How do you know that?" Bruce's voice held some doubt and worry as I tried to swallow but my throat had gone dry.

"My birthmark is on the back of my neck hidden by my hair. The mark on my shoulder is from when I was almost rapped five years ago and got stabbed by my attacker. I'm sorry." Now I was drowning in my fear because I didn't know what they would do to me.

_"Maybe they'll just suck my blood like they've been dying to since I'm not the right girl," _I thought as a shiver ran up my spine.

"Are you certain that the mark on your shoulder isn't your birthmark?" Bruce asked me once more.

"I'm positive. I had to go through almost a whole year of therapy to try and forget that night," I told him, my voice wavering slightly because of the memory of that night.

_My thoughts were clouded as I tried to think of possible reasons Kyle had broken up with me. With a sigh, I pulled my coat closer around me in an attempt to keep out the cold air rushing past me. It was as I turned a corner that I caught sight of a man who appeared to be following me. _

_"Calm down Kory, it's nothing. I'm sure we're just going the same way," I told myself while letting out a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. These nerves didn't calm but instead intensified when I cut through an ally way as a short cut back to my home and the man followed me. _

_"Where you going pretty thing?" he called out to me while I shuffled through my purse in an attempt to find my cell phone so I could call the police._

_"I have pepper spray so you better leave me alone!" I yelled, spinning around with said item in my outstretched hands. It seemed the guy didn't care because he quickly knocked the pepper spray from my hands before slamming me up against the nearest wall. The breath was knocked out of me as I let out a yelp and my purse dropped from my grasp, taking my cell phone with it. _

_"Now why do you have to get all defensive? I just wanted to have some fun," the man said, grinning at me with lust filling his eyes. _

_"Somebody help!" I screamed before my mouth was covered with his as he ripped off my coat and started undoing my pants. Tears were running down my eyes now as I tried to struggle against his hold. Once my wet jeans were gone (_it had begun to rain_) my legs were free and I had the chance to knee the man in the balls which I gladly took. He grunted before doubling over as I tried to run away from him. It seemed my hit wasn't strong enough because the man soon had hold of me again and I was pressed up against the wall once again. _

_"Feisty… just the way I like 'em," he whispered into my ear before pulling out a knife. "But I can't have you running off again," he then told me before stabbing the blade into my left shoulder. The pain that went surging through my body was blinding and I let out a scream before all but collapsing against the wall in exhaustion. The tears were falling faster now as I heard the man undo his own pants. Just when I thought my virginity was going to be stolen from me, the man was ripped away from me and I slumped against the wall because I was unable to hold myself up. With the knife still in my shoulder it made it hard for me to look around, but I was able to look up in time to see a pair of hollow black eyes staring down at me. _

_"Help," I rasped out before letting myself slip into the unconsciousness that was oh so welcoming._

"Yeah, the mark on my shoulder isn't a birthmark," I repeated after the flashback was over. To this day I still wasn't sure who had saved me, but whoever they were I owed them a great deal of thanks.

"Damn it," Bruce swore under his breath, his eyebrows becoming knitted together as he fell into deep concentration.

"We're back to square one it seems," Richard said with a sigh while I couldn't help but feel guilty. All this time they had been hoping that I was what they were looking for, but I turned out to just be some fake. Even though I hadn't known about any of this until now, it still made me feel bad.

An idea struck me then as I thought back to how it would have been better if I had just stayed with all of my friends.

"I know a girl with long hair, bright eyes, birthmark on her left shoulder, caring heart, strength, and she's around my age," I said and the two vampires turned to stare at me.

"Who?" Bruce asked. There was some silence before I finally said the name they had been looking for all along,

"Terra."

**oo-oo-oo-oo-oo**

Listen! Do you smell that?! lol That's from Ghostbusters, but anyway do you guys hear the angels singing?

**I updated in less than two weeks!**

I think that calls for some **huge** celebration! Seriously this is huge and I'm gonna start on chapter 15 of _Being With You Only Brings The Tears _real soon. I'm also almost done with the next chapter of _When The Dead Live_, but I still have like another three or four pages to write (I'm at page 9). An update for _Painted Woman_ will take a while since I'm still only the first page of the next chapter, but I'm having **horrible **writer's block for that story right now. I have a feeling that that story won't last much longer (like only 6 chapters left).

So anyway, I hope everyone is happy with the fast update and I'll hopefully be updating _Curse of the Ninjatube _and _When The Dead Live _this weekend. An update for _Being With You Only Brings The Tears _and _Painted Woman_ may take a little longer, but I'm updating my other stories which is good.

Please review!

Kattie


	25. Those Two Dreaded Words

Once again, I found myself pacing back and forth across a room while trying to calm down. Also like before, I was waiting for an answer to something that could possibly change my life forever.

After I had told Bruce and Richard that my friend Terra had the birthmark and overall matched the description they were looking for, Richard and I had been ushered out of the room while Raven and Victor entered. Now I was pacing around while Richard leaned against the wall in my bedroom. We were forced to go to my bedroom since it was pretty much the furthest one away from Bruce's room which meant that Richard would have a harder time hearing what was going on in the room (not that the walls being sound proof wasn't already enough).

"Calm down Kory, everything is going to be fine," Richard told me as I continued to pace back and forth. Even as I answered him, my pacing continued as I tried to calm myself.

"Ever since I've been brought here, a lot of things that people claimed would be fine ended up going horribly wrong. I'm not taking any chances with showing hope only to have it crushed because I know things aren't going to work out fine." There was a pause before I muttered that I shouldn't have ever mentioned Terra.

"If you hadn't mentioned Terra then we all would still believe that you were the right girl or we'd be out searching again for who knows how long. Do you know how long it took to find you? They were all searching for almost ten years looking for you," Richard told me as he pushed himself off of the wall and walked over to me.

"Yeah, I know that, but I can't stop thinking of what I've done to Terra's life by telling you guys that. I remember the shock I went through when I was told that I was being taken by vampires and I'm still actually kinda getting over it. None of this was easy to take in, but now that I'm not the one you guys are looking for, I feel a little better. I just hate having to make Terra go through all of this because she's never done any wrong to anybody," I told him with a sigh while coming to a stop.

"I know it's a lot to take in, but if she's anything like you she'll probably do fine. As long as she doesn't have any jealous boyfriends and doesn't have a thing for incredibly gorgeous vampires everything should be fine," Richard said with a shrug acting as if he didn't slip in a complement for himself. I rolled my eyes before pushing him playfully. He in turn laughed at me and then there was silence between us which during it I realized the horrible truth.

"I'll have to leave…won't I." It was more of a statement than a question because I knew there was nothing else Bruce could do with me.

"We don't know that for sure Kory so don't say that. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you don't have to," Richard said, his voice serious as I felt my eyes heated up with threatening tears.

"What am I supposed to do if I stay here? Just keep going on like I have for the past couple of weeks? You know I can't do that forever just to stay with you and I'll just end up getting in the way. Terra will eventually become a vampire anyway to help you guys out and then I'll just be that stupid human in the way." My voice was shaking slightly as the tears began to form and I started to bite my lip.

"Kory," he spoke softly with a sigh before I pretty much lunged into his arms and started to sob. Richard was stiff for a moment before he held me and rested his chin on the top of my head as I shook in his arms.

"Will they c-come after m-me?" I asked in between sobs and shaky breaths.

"Who? Slade and the others?" Richard guessed and I nodded my head.

"Shit… I never thought of that. We'll have to talk to Bruce about all of this when he's done with Raven and Victor," he told me before I heard the door open.

"If you guys need to talk to him, you can. We're done," Raven announced from the doorway. I pulled away from Richard's embrace before nodding at her and following Richard out of the room and back towards Bruce's once again. Just like before, when we entered Bruce was sitting behind his desk and told us to sit in the same seats as before. The only difference now was that there was a thickness about the air and a serious look about Bruce that made me worry all the more about what was going to happen to both me and Terra.

"When are you going to go after Terra?" I asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the three of us.

"Soon, maybe tomorrow. We need to get her in our custody before Slade catches on to any of this," Bruce told me, his voice calm as if he was talking about the weather though I knew that inside he was thinking very much about everything that was going on.

"What's going to happen to me?" I finally asked the question that had been on my mind since the first day they even took me.

"Well, I can't turn you into a vampire because that would be against my morals and I doubt you want that right now. Keeping you here wouldn't help either so the only thing we can do is move you to another location aside from where you used to live and let you continue living your life," Bruce told me and I swear my heart stopped for a minute.

"So you guys are just gonna ship me off to some far away place hoping that I won't tell anybody about any of this and pray you never see me again?" I know I sounded a little bitter, but I was pretty pissed.

"It not that we don't want to see you again, it'd just be safer for you if we never did see each other," Bruce tried to explain and out of the corner of my eye I saw Richard stiffen.

"After fucking up my life completely, you think you'll just be able to take my friend, fuck up her life, and then dump me in some foreign place hoping that I'll be able to just restart my life?!" My voice was rising but I didn't care.

"I'm sorry that that is the way you see all of this, but it was never mine or anyone else's intentions to make you feel this way," Bruce said, his voice as calm as ever. He wasn't even fazed that I was yelling at him which only made me more pissed off because I wanted a reaction from him.

"Do you honestly expect me to just sit by and let you do all of this?! You're shitting yourself if you think I'm gonna let you ruin my friend's life for your own selfish needs!" I snapped at him, but there was still no reaction; only silence.

"Say something damnit!" I ordered while shooting up from my seat and slamming my fists down on his desk. Richard just sat there in silence and we were all quiet before Bruce rose from his seat and went over to the door.

Opening it, he turned to face me. "If all you're going to do is yell then I'm going to have to ask you to leave Kory." Bruce's face was blank and he told me nicely that he was kicking me out of his office. Glancing around the room, I found the first thing I could get my hands on and threw it against the wall. Turns out the first thing I could find was a rather expensive vase that I probably should have felt bad about breaking, but I didn't.

Pushing back my chair, I walked towards the door and on the way out I told Bruce that I hoped the vase had been valuable. Call me a bad guest, but hell; I didn't even want to be here in the first place!

"Kory," Richard called out to me as I began walking not towards my room, but towards the front doors of this large home filled with blood sucking freaks.

"Leave me alone Richard," I told him, but I knew that he was still trailing behind me.

"Where will you go Kory?" he asked and I wanted to turn around and collapse into his arms in tears, but I willed myself to keep walking. Truth was, I didn't know where I was going to go, but there was no way in hell I was going to admit that to him whether he already knew it or not.

"Wherever the hell I feel like," I snapped. My pace was quickening since I knew I would reach the door soon and I just wanted to get the hell out of this place.

"I can't just let you leave Kory," Richard told me and I spun around to glare at him.

"Don't try to stop me," I hissed through watery eyes, shaking muscles, clenched fists, and gritted teeth. With that said, I spun back around and began my walk once again only this time even faster.

"Are you even going to consider what you're doing?" He was still following me which was starting to piss me off since at the moment all I wanted to do was be alone.

"Can I get a moment alone where I don't have to worry about someone hearing what I say or breathing down the neck they want to use to suck the living hell out of me?!" That was a hit belong the belt, I knew that, but I could pretty much care less right now.

"You know that's not what we all want to do," Richard defended him and his horror movie kind with a stern voice that warned me to stop pushing his buttons. The subject of being a vampire was a sensitive one for him, along with mentioning Barbara and I knew that. Since Bruce hadn't given me the reaction I wanted though, I'd just have to push Richard until he got mad and I was able to yell at someone. There was an unspeakable rage rushing through my veins right now and all I wanted to do was beat the living shit out of someone with both my fists and my words. Call me mean spirited, a bad person, someone who takes joy in other's pain, but I honestly won't care right now.

"Of course it isn't. How could I have forgotten that you all want to ruin my life completely along with getting into my pants?" The question came out bitter, but everything about my attitude right now was bitter.

"Well it's not our fault you can't seem to keep people out of them," Richard snapped right back which almost made me smile. This was the fight I wanted because I knew that if I got Richard to get mad enough at me I would be able to leave because he wouldn't care enough to stop me. It was the wrong way to get out of this place, but I was going insane in here which wasn't really good either so I was pretty much pulling at straws when I concocted this plan.

"You're right Richard and I'm thinking that now I'm not even going to bother wearing them," I said this in a calm voice which seemed to shock Richard for a while since he didn't say anything back for a while. Since he wasn't saying anything, I decided to push his buttons a little more by starting to undo the buttons on my pants just to push my comment further. Seems Richard didn't take his to well since he snarled before pretty much ripping my arms out of their sockets when he pulled me towards him.

"Why are you doing this Kory? Why are you being so difficult?" he asked and I could see some of the emotions that were floating around in his gorgeous eyes. This would be it; this was my big chance to get the hell out of this place for good with Richard hating me so that he wouldn't be so hurt by me leaving.

"Because I hate this place, these vampires, my life, and you! I hate everything that you creeps have brought on to me for all the wrong reasons since all that you've caused me is pain! I've never felt this horrible before and I think that if I stay here for another day I might kill myself so how about you just let me go Richard?! I don't love you!"

My own heart stopped with those last four words just as I'm sure if Richard had a heart, his would've too. Everything around us was silence and I was sure that the other vampires in this place had heard my outburst.

_"Just all the better because now all of them will hate me and will hopefully just leave me alone," _I kept silently telling myself, but no matter how many times I thought it; I still couldn't find the right in what I had said. Saying that I didn't love Richard had been a hit below the belt and he might as well have been crumpled on the ground saying his last good bye to some children he could have had (had he been able to have children).

_"Am I any better than Barbara now?" _I thought and knew the answer right away.

_No_.

"All I want to do is leave Richard because there is nothing here worth staying for." My heart was slowly chipping away as I said these words to him because it was pretty much all a lie. I wanted to stay here with Richard, more than anything really, because I was in love with him, madly and deeply in love with probably the hottest vampire I had ever seen (and that was quiet a few since I had met two whole clans of them).

"Is that really what you want?" Richard finally spoke, his words weak as his voice cracked slightly. He sounded so broken which just made me feel more like a bitch.

_"It's for the better." _That one thought kept playing in my head as we stared at each other in silence.

"Yes."

That was the one word I needed to say to change everything and boy did it ever change some things. One thing that changed was the fact that only moments before I had been standing on my own but now I was being held by Richard as he ran off. Some part of me said that I should be putting up a struggle since I didn't know where he was taking me, but the other part, the part that stilled loved Richard (and probably forever would), said that I could trust him to do the right thing.

_"If he's doing the right thing then why did we leave the mansion full of vampires which is where I really belong?"_ That question ran through my head until Richard finally came to a stop and I found myself standing in front of my old house. Well technically it was still my home, but just being away from it for those two weeks made it seem as if I hadn't been there in forever.

"Good-bye Kory." The words came out as barely a whisper before Richard was gone and I was left standing on the sidewalk. This was when I finally broke down into the tears I had been for so long holding in. My whole body was wracking with the tears that kept pouring from my eyes with no sign of stopping any time soon. At this point though, I didn't want them to stop because they were the only thing that made me feel alive since the only other person that had ever been able to do that just went running off in super human speeds.

Finally, I whispered the words that I have probably been dreading before I had ever even met him.

"Good-bye Richard."

**oo-oo-oo-oo-oo**

Yeah so if you guys didn't already chat on to the 'complete' sign instead of the 'in progress' sign being up at the top of the story, then I'll tell you now that this was in fact the last chapter of the story. ducks from the bullets because I have freaky Matrix skills

Do not worry too much though because there will be a sequel, _Walking As The Damned_, that will probably be coming out in a couple of weeks or so. Also other fantabulous news!

**MY WRITERS BLOCK FOR THIS STORY IS GONE!!**

__Yeah so you all were wondering why the updates were taking so long before, well that was the mother fucking reason! (I added in the swearing because I hate writer's block). I'm actually going to start on the first chapter of the sequel right after I post this, but first I must give some thanks to those wonderful people who have reviewed, added the story to favorites, and also to alters.

_Thank you for the review!:_

**D1karategirl, Queen pain alone, StarryNightT, RoyalBlue, SuperJGirl5, jumpstarter, chittychittybangbang16, raeXXstarry, .Faith-o-saurus., SaoirseWaveglow, so not telling, blue-eyed rocker, BonitaChickia, 'rEdRoSe-StArFiRe-RoSeFiRe', Ada.W.Kennedy, BeastBoysWifey007, mochalvr, cutereviewgirl, domey, udontknow, …., painslybernith, puppyeyes135, sarah, RoseXxxXThorn, ArcaneAuthor, Aoko, gouriranjit93, mia, ifah-chan, random man, ChristeenieWeenie, Anna, sb1, AxPrettyxLittlexDream, woah….., THUGG, LadieJ., .Spaz-attack101, robinxstarfire93, Evening Dew, **and** RyangAuel! **(135 reviews)

_Thank you for the favorite!:_

**.Faith-o-saurus., .Spaz-attack101, Ada.W.Kenedy, Aoko, AxPrettyxLIttlexDream, BonitaChickia, BradinKiryu101591, Evening Dew, FalconFalling14, Raven of Alaska, RoseXxxXThorn, SaoirseWaveglow, Star4Robin, SuperJGirl5, THUGG, blue-eyed rocker, d1karategirl, gerardluva, inuandrave7, latinagirl, mochalvr, painslybernith, puppyeyes135, raeXXstarry, robinxstarfire93, sexyangelcrystal16, **and** whitexgodess! **(28 total)

___Thank you for the alert!:_

'**rEdRoSe-StArFiRe-RoSeFiRe', .Spaz-attack101, Ada.W.Kennedy, Amarioko, Aoko, ArcaneAuthor, AxPrettyxLittlexDream, Billie-Joe-is-hotter-than-you, BonitaChickia, CakesNCrayons, Dizzie123321, InLoveWithNetball, Ladie J., MyB-wayBohoRENTlife, Princess of Storms, RyangAuel, SaoirseWaveglow, Star4Robin, SuperJGirl5, blue-eyed rocker, d1karategirl, fiercekat94, inuandrave7, milkshakelvr, mochalvr, raeXXstarry, robinxstarfire93, sb1, **and** shadowedstar213! **(29 total)

So I'm very happy with the results from this story as I hope everyone else is, but hopefully the sequel will get just as much hits. Speaking of which, I got a total of **9, 732** hits (not including this chapter since I have yet to know the results)! Adding on this chapter, the total of words will come up to a totally awesome **60, 523**!

So thank you all for the wonderful reviews saying that you loved the story! I'm sorry that in between it took me a while to update, but that's because I was really struggling. Hopefully the struggling is over now so that I can continue writing with ease.

For the last time for this story, I will say it:

Please review!

Kattie


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